Uchiha Erika
by RebelzHeart
Summary: Itachi killed the entire clan, and left one sole survivor. But what if this survivor wasn't Sasuke? Instead it's his sister, older than him by two years. Uchiha Erika.
1. The Boy Named Monster

"_Yes, that's the boy. Can you believe it?"_

"_Now way! But… but… impossible!"_

"_That's how he makes it look. He looks so innocent too."_

"_He the cause of all this pain. What right does he have to be live, huh?"_

"_He's a murderer."_

Their voices hushed as the one they were speaking of walked closer to them. It was a young boy, with red hair and pitch black rings around his eyes. Love was written on his forehead, in Japanese of course. He had silver-blue teal eyes and had his head down, short red bangs hanging over his eyes.

The boy wore black t-shirt, shorts, a white belt and a huge gourd on his back that was almost as big as the young boy himself.

He looked up momentarily and stared straight into the eyes of the women. The one who had asked about the young boy's right to live drew back in horror. His eyes wore sad, but she couldn't seem to break eye contact with him. Though sad, they were also angry and annoyed. His eyes narrowed and she stared back. His eyes seemed to shove into the woman's eyes, tear straight into her heart.

"What are you staring at?" He asked, his voice a low hiss, with a raspy type of tone.

"N-n-nothing!" The woman stuttered.

The young boy narrowed his teal eyes at her. "You're lying." He hissed, and slowly the cap on the huge gourd behind his back unscrewed, and dropped onto his hand.

"N-n-no!" Both the woman screamed as the young boy reached out his hand. Waves of rippling sand pushed out towards them and grabbed them both by the ankles. The grains of sand slowly crawled up and wrapped around the woman and the boy squeezed his hand in a fist.

"Sand coffin!" He yelled, his voice a low growl.

Their screams filled the air, yet oddly enough, nobody went to help them. They all feared the boy. Gaara, Jinchuriki of the Sand.

XxXxXxXxX

"I'm home!" A young girl with short little bungs on either side of her head said cheerfully as she opened the door.

A boy wearing a black cloak and purple face paint on his nose and cheeks looked up from a table where he had been working. "Oh, hello Temari." He said, smiling.

Temari smiled back at the boy, her fingers momentarily sliding over the pitch black edges of a huge fan on her back, almost as tall as the young girl herself. "Hey Kankuro." She paused and closed her eyes, blinking for a second too long. The look in her eyes showed that she had thought of something. "I-is Gaara home?" She asked.

Kankuro shook his head. "Not yet. Hopefully he's got somebody else. As much as I hate to say it, I'd prefer that somebody else be the victim than us."

Temari smiled, relieved. "Okay then!" She said, returning to her cheerful self. "So, what are you working on Kankuro?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just this little puppet, I want to see if I can make something cool and new." Kankuro brightened up. "I learned about this cool puppet guy… Sasori of the sand! But…" Kankuro looked down on the ground. "He turned bad."

"What do you mean, bad?" Temari asked curiously.

Kankuro sighed sadly. "I mean, bad."

"Oh." Temari didn't question him any more.

_Creak._ The door creaked as it opened and Gaara walked in.

"G-Gaara!" Temari exclaimed. "How was your day?" She asked him, struggling to keep calm, but kept her voice low and even.

"Great." Gaara said, but by the flatness in his voice it was obvious that he, as usual, wasn't really that great. He looked up and stared at Temari. "Some people stared at me today."

Temari smiled, relieved. Gaara's dark grayish teal eyes were freaky, but they weren't the eyes of a demon. "That totally sucks." She grinned, the young girl now relieved that she wouldn't be killed, returned her voice to a soft sisterly love. "Are you okay about that?" She asked softly. "People staring at you sucks… I know that I'd be really pissed off at them for doing that. Like, sheesh, stare at yourselves! Right?"

Gaara almost managed a smile. Almost. "Yeah, I really ripped it in them."

Kankuro laughed. "Uh huh. I bet that you really did." He paused. "So, do you want to do anything?" He asked mischievously.

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked, he was now suspicious. The young boy's voice was cautious. Kankuro wasn't the joking prank type, but he still was pretty smart and could come up with fairly fun things to do. Well, when he wasn't blabbing on and on about puppets and stuff.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Temari asked, Her voice was just as suspicious.

"So, does this mean that you're in?" Kankuro asked, smirking.

Temari sighed, and then she glanced at Gaara. She could tell by his face that he was just as curious as she was. He slightly dipped his head down, to show that he agreed. Yes, both of their curiosities simply had to be satisfied.

The blond haired girl turned to Kankuro. "We're in. What do you have in mind?"

Kankuro grinned. "Have you noticed how tired and winded dad has been lately?" He asked, still smirking impishly.

"Well… yeah. I guess." Gaara replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "But you know, he's the Kazekage, right?"

"Well… I've got an idea. How about I make a couple of Gaara and Temari and Kankuro puppets? It might be a little embarrassing for the great Kazekage, sure, but…"

Temari laughed. "I see where you're going with this Kankuro. The poor man will think he's crazy!" But she giggled, pressing her fingers over her lips.

"Exactly!" Kankuro exclaimed. "I can control a Gaara puppet and a Temari puppet… and then…"

"Yes, Gaara and I can make sand clones!" Temari exclaimed, getting into the spirit of things. "Just a couple mind you… you know, here and there."

Gaara smirked slightly. "Let's do it." He said, and then he unscrewed his cap from the huge gourd, practically as big as the young boy was himself.

Temari drew back. "Hey, hey, hey!" She exclaimed. "What on earth do you think you're doing with that?" She demanded, placing a hand on her hip.

Kankuro laughed. "My, my. Aren't we a little jumpy today?" He asked, smirking. "Eh, Temari?"

Temari went bright pink. "Oh shut up." She said, flushing in embarrassment.

"Sheesh. I'm just going to make a couple of sand clones!" Gaara exclaimed, and for one rare moment he was smiling at his brother and sister. "After all, I have plenty of sand to spare, right?"

Temari nodded, feeling like a total idiot. An embarrassed idiot, to add to the annoyance. "Ready?" She asked, grinning.

Kankuro smirked, pulling a Temari puppet and a Gaara puppet from the table, half dragging it across the wood. A few things such as silver knives and huge tubes of paint fell to the ground. A few drops of yellow paint fell to the ground, about the same color as Temari's hair. He moved his hand, and the puppets stood up. "Ready as any time." He said, smirking as the puppets folded their arms over their wooden chests.

Gaara put the cap into his pocket and traced his fingers in midair, creating small swirls. The sand spun around wildly and formed a couple of clones, and color slowly added to them. There were five Gaara clones, but his brother and sister both knew that Gaara was capable of much, much more than that.

Temari held out her hand, her fingers quickly forming the hand seals. Tiger, serpent, tiger, ox. "Suna Kuron-jutsu!" She said, and five Temari clones stood beside the original. Temari smiled at Kankuro. "You sure that you yourself aren't going to take any part in this?" She asked him.

Kankuro pushed back a few strands of thick brown bangs from his forehead and grinned. "Yeah, I'm sure. After all, I only have two hands, and doing that is pushing the limit already. Don't you know? Puppets need chakra strings to control them, and I can't spare more than this much."

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah." He said. "We get it. You've talked about it often enough."

Temari grinned. "Hey, you total idiots. Less talking, more scheming."

"Scheming?" Kankuro asked, laughing. "I would hardly call it _scheming_, as you so calmly put it."

Gaara, or at least one of the Gaara clones, smirked. "Come on. Let's just get going already." He said, but the young boy said it patiently.

Kankuro remembered once… a half possession. He and Temari had been freaked out of their wits. Why shouldn't they? After all, they were still only 5 at the time. That had been about three years ago.

He remembered hearing Gaara speak… even though it was not to them… only it wasn't his little brother's voice. It was the demon, in a low, raspy voice like Gaara's. Only deeper, and not to mention much more frightening. _Come on. Let's get going already. I do not like to be kept waiting._ It had been speaking to Gaara… Kankuro shook his head, and the thoughts quickly disintegrated. Why was he thinking about that anyways? _The demon._ Kankuro thought sadly. _If only it weren't for the demon…_

"Hey, Kankuro." Temari said, her lips slightly upturned in a smirk, a hand resting casually on her hip. "Wake up. We're going to do this now."

Kankuro grinned and straightened up. "Let's do this."

XxXxXxXxX

The Fourth Kazekage sighed as he walked out of his office. It had been a long and tiring, day, and he wasn't exactly in the best of moods. But, more of it, he was in an extremely sleepy mood. He took off his blue Kazekage cap and ran his fingers through his reddish brown hair. It was colored like dust, the red sand of the desert.

He had three children, his wife was dead, and it seemed like he was starting to avoid even his own children. The man sighed and shook his head. He loved his other son, even though he wasn't truly like a son to the man, but his daughter and his other son… The man sighed. It wasn't that he didn't love them, really, he did. It was simply that he never really did seem to have the time, let alone the strength to be the father that they had always wanted him to be.

Then he spotted his red headed son, Gaara, and his daughter, Temari. The Kazekage raised his hand in greeting, a smile on his lips. Perhaps it was time for him to start being a better father after all.

"Hello Temari." He said, a smile on his lips, and then he paused. "Hello Gaara." He said his voice hesitant, like it was an afterthought to speak to his youngest son.

But then didn't speak back, then simply stood there, heads pressed together, their backs turned to him. The Kazekage felt slightly insulted, so he walked up to them and tapped Temari on the shoulder. She still continued to pay to head to him, so he turned and started walking, then widened his eyes in shock when he saw Temari and Gaara _again_.

"Wow. Kids move fast these days." He murmured to himself. But when he turned his head, there they were again. Then the other corner… once again, talking to each other and laughing. He opened the door to his room and gasped when he saw Gaara and Temari _again_.

The Kazekage staggered back, pressing his hand to his forehead. "I'm going to their room." He muttered to himself. "To prove that I'm not mad."

He walked into their room when Temari, Gaara and Kankuro were sitting, all chatting and laughing over something. Kankuro was a little red in the face, so he supposed that the joke was at his brown haired son's expense.

"Hey kids… uh… have you been speeding around lately?" He asked. The three stopped laughing (or rather, blushing, in Kankuro's case) and turned to look at him.

There was a moment of awkward silence, with the three looking at him as if he had gone nuts. Finally, Kankuro spoke. Something not too intelligent though. "Huh?"

The Kazekage's cheeks went a bright red and he blushed. "Have you been using shadow clones lately?" He added.

"What's a shadow clone?" Gaara asked, an innocent look on his face. But then, he always looked innocent and he _was_ a cold blooded murderer, so the young boy's expression didn't really mean that much.

"We've learned about clones in ninja school!" Temari said helpfully, but it was more of a slightly confused fashion.

"Oh yeah, shadow clones! I think I read about them in a textbook or something… they're like clones with a personality, right?" Kankuro asked eagerly.

"Oh, never mind. Well, have you been making any clones lately?" The Kazekage asked.

"In class?" Kankuro asked, and then he shook his head. "Nope, we're learning transformation jutsu."

"Oh." The Kazekage said. He walked out, then, just as he walked, he saw Gaara and Temari walking down the hall. The Kazekage fell over in a faint.

Temari smirked. "Mission accomplished."

Kankuro nodded, smiling. "Poor dad." He said, but he was grinning as well.

"Do you think we went too far in the prank?" Gaara asked. He paused, then exchanged glanced with Temari and Kankuro, who both burst out laughing.

"Nah." The three said together simultaneously.

Kankuro looked down and clicked his tongue against his teeth, making a clack clacking sound. "Well, we certainly can't leave dad right her on the floor, can we?"

"In a faint, no less." Temari added, the smirk still on her face. She found that she couldn't stop smirking, and inside she was doubling over in laughter.

"We'd better get rid of the sand clones." Gaara added helpfully.

"Definitely." Temari agreed. "Kankuro, you should get your puppets." She added.

"Oh yeah, right!" Kankuro exclaimed. "I would have forgot if you hadn't told me! Thanks, Temari." And the boy dashed off in search of his puppets.

"It's a wonder that he doesn't get hot in that." Temari said, but it was more of in a childish way, as she wasn't old enough to actually think too much about something.

"But it looks cool." Gaara said, as though that were a good reason why Kankuro would wear it, nevertheless.

Both looked down, feeling slightly uncomfortable. There was a brief moment of silence. Finally, Temari spoke. "Uh… do you think that we should get dad to his bed?" She asked.

"Yeah." Gaara agreed.

"So… uh… how are we going to carry him?" Temari asked, she looked so stumped that Gaara almost laughed out loud. Indeed, how were an 8 year old and a 10 year old supposed to carry a full grown adult?

Instantly Gaara's face lit up as he thought of something. "I know! We'll call an adult!"

"Duh." Temari said, rolling her eyes.

Gaara's eyes flashed. "Then why didn't you think of it?" He asked his voice dangerously low, but as he was only eight, it didn't sound that dangerous to be honest.

Temari widened her bluish eyes. "I don't know." She muttered, in an annoyed way, but not enough to stir her brother's anger.

Just then, they spotted someone coming towards them. "Hey!" Temari yelled. "Dad fainted."

The person, who they now identified as a Shinobi by his Suna headband, blinked as he walked closed to them. "Kazekage sir!" He exclaimed, sounding extremely shocked. He turned to the stare at Gaara. "What happened to the Kazekage?" He asked sternly.

"It was amazing!" Temari exclaimed, spreading her arms out to add extra emphasis. "Dad came in, talking about shadow clones and speeding! And then he was about to go out, then fainted!"

The Shinobi nodded, seeming a little flustered by the young girl's explanation. "I see…" He said slowly, but by the dubious look on his face it was obvious that he _didn't_ see.

"Do you think that dad was tired?" Temari asked curiously.

"What?" The Shinobi snapped his head up.

"I mean, do you think that he was sleepy, and wanted his mom to tuck him into bed, then just got so sleepy that he decided to sleep on the floor?" Temari asked, working the innocent layer thick on.

"Er…."

Gaara grinned. His sister, Temari, was a brilliant actress. "Well, whatever the case, we should get him to bed, don't you think?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah…" The Shinobi said, nodding. Then, he picked up the Kazekage, looking like he felt extremely awkward holding him, then walked off to the Kazekage's room.

Just then, Kankuro came back, holding his puppets. They now looked limp and old in his hands. "Did I miss anything?" He asked.

"You bet you did!" Gaara exclaimed, jerking his thumb towards Temari. "She's a brilliant actress! Played the innocent game, so good! You couldn't tell that she was part of the prank!"

Kankuro laughed. "Nice going Temari." He said, smirking slightly. "I guess our prank worked pretty nicely after all."

"Definitely." Temari agreed, grinning.

"You'd better hide those puppets, and quick." Gaara said. "Don't want dad to find out it was us, right?"

Temari chuckled. "Poor man. Too much work, though it _did_ work pretty well in our favor, don't you agree?"

"Totally agree." Gaara said, grinning. "That look on his face… like, ugh, too much work." He grinned. "Do you think it was a bit too much of an overload?"

They exchanged glanced momentarily. "Nah." Temari and Kankuro said. "It was brilliant."

"Yeah, you're good Kankuro." Gaara said, his voice shoving slight approval.

"I know." Kankuro said, smirking.

Temari lightly punched him on the arm, but it was with a sisterly love.

"I'm going to go out for a walk." Gaara declared.

Kankuro blinked, for a second too long. "Are you sure that's… uh… _wise_, Gaara?"

Gaara narrowed his eyes, all the happiness suddenly gone. "What do you mean wise? Are you questioning my judgment?"

"No, no." Kankuro said quickly. "It's just that, it's getting dark, you know? It'll be cold, and you know, dark." He just shrugged.

Gaara relaxed. "Yeah, you're right. It will be dark, and about the cold, I'll just bring a jacket." He smiled again, and Kankuro relaxed. "But you know, I still feel like walking."

"But don't you want to get some rest?" Temari asked.

"I don't sleep, remember?" Gaara asked, staring at her.

Temari smiled weakly. "Right. Just joking around."

Gaara stared at her for a moment, as though trying to determine whether she was truly joking or not. "Right… well, I'm heading out."

He went, got a jacket, wrapped it around his shoulders, and actually turned his head to smile at Kankuro and Temari. They were shocked. They actually... had lots of fun with him. Usually, they were just scared of him (no offense to the boy, but honestly!).

Gaara turned his head again. "Oh yeah, don't wait for me to come back. I may as well be gone for all the night." Yeah, the two knew that this was a possibility with the young redhead.

Gaara stepped out the door, feeling the sharp breeze on his cheeks. _Guess Kankuro was right._ He thought to himself. _It _is_ pretty cold out here._

Then he noticed some people crowding and glaring at him. He was used to that. The Jinchuriki simply glared back at them, but finally was forced to lower his gaze, not just because of the pure ferocity and hate, but of the huge number of glares.

He shivered, and not because of the cold. He continued walking, though the young boy wasn't quite sure why. He kept walking and walking, and walking. Then, he reached the gates of Suna. And he remembered the place where he always went when he was upset, or sad or something like that. A cave… not too far outside of Suna.

The young redhead silently slipped out, and continued walking until he finally reached the cave. He climbed up, and was shocked to see a young girl there, a blissful smile on her lips as she looked up at the sky.

The girl had longish black hair which was pulled back in a braid, the end sticking down and slightly curved like a stinger. Her eyes were black, shimmering slightly as the moon reflected off of them. She wore a green t-shirt with a red and white fan on it and a pale green pair of shorts with a dark forest green skirt over it.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice sharp and raspy.

"Erika." She replied, shortly, bluntly.

"What are you doing here?" He growled.

"Looking at the stars."

Gaara eyed the girl carefully. She wasn't from Suna, but it was obvious that she came here often enough. "Where are you from?" He asked.

"Konoha."

"Well, this is my spot." Gaara growled, and the cap began to unscrew.

The young girl laughed. "Are you sure you want to kill me?" She asked as she sand started to shoot towards her. She hadn't moved, and the Erika's eyes were still focused on the billions of stars dotting the dark blue night sky like buttons on a quilt.

The sand stopped, and Gaara stared, shocked. "How did you know?" He asked.

"I think that nobody in their right mind would come out here so late. It's not very close to anywhere, and even though the night's beautiful not much people like to look at it." She glanced momentarily at him. "I don't know how I knew, to be honest. I just guessed."

Gaara sat down next to her. "It was a pretty good guess." He growled. He wasn't quite sure if he liked this girl, or hated this girl. Whatever the case, he found her intriguing and fairly interesting.

She stared at him momentarily. "Do you want be friends?" She asked.

Gaara blinked. Whatever he had expected, this was _not_ it. He had just tried to kill this girl… and she wanted to be friends? Talk about weird. "Why?" He asked suspiciously, sand weaving in and out of his fingers.

The girl sighed. "I don't know. For some reason I like you." She glanced momentarily at him. "You look about my age. Are you 8?"

Gaara nodded.

Erika grinned. "So am I." Then she paused. "You look sad." She said.

Gaara stared at her. Was she seriously only 8? "Yeah." He said.

Erika paused. "Care to share?" She asked.

Gaara didn't know why, but for some reason he trusted this weird girl. "I'm a Jinchuriki, which means that I've got a demon sealed inside of me. Everyone hates me."

Erika was silent for a moment. "Oh." She said in reply to his very brief explanation. "That must suck." She added.

"Obviously."

Then Erika laughed.

Gaara glared at her, feeling sort of ticked off. "What's so funny?" He asked angrily.

"People are so stupid though, that it's not much of a surprise that they hate you." Erika replied calmly.

Gaara blinked again. This girl was really weird… but… he liked her. She was nice. "Well, I guess we're friends." He said, shrugging as though it weren't a big deal.

Erika smiled. "Good." She replied. "Aren't people stupid for not liking you?"

Gaara felt as though something had lodged itself into his throat, he felt sad yet angry at the same time. It was an unexplainable feeling.

"Isn't it nice to have people like you? Good thing your family will always like you. I have two brothers." Erika said, smart enough to change the subject. "Do you have any siblings?"

Gaara nodded eagerly. "Yeah! I have a brother and a sister."

"I have one older brother, and one younger brother." Erika said.

"My brother and sister are both older than me." Gaara replied.

"Cool." Erika said. "What's it like being the youngest?" She asked.

Gaara shrugged. "I don't know. What's it like being the middle kid?"

Erika laughed again. "Hard to explain, eh?" She asked.

Gaara simply nodded.

"My older brother's a genius, so it's sort of hard." Erika said. "It's like… they expect me to be just like him. If I'm not, then they're disappointed and totally ignore me. But if I do what he did, he did it first, so it's just like, they ignore me anyways. I feel like I'm always invisible, and it's sort of disappointing, because it's as though they don't think that I'm worth any bit of their precious time. You know?"

Gaara stared at her, and then stared at the stars. "I don't know." The eight year old said quietly. "I think that sometimes… I wish that I _could_ be invisible, that I could get everyone to just ignore me. Maybe I'd like that, instead of every single person in my village hating me all the time."

"Oh." Erika said quietly. "What's your sister's name and what's your brother's name?" She asked, changing the subject once again.

"Oh, my sister is Temari. You really couldn't tell that she's my sister though because she had _blonde_ hair and blue eyes which she always wears in these funny looking ponytails. Four of them, one on each side of her head."

"Hm…" Erika said. She pushed a loose strand of black hair from her forehead. "That sounds a little fitting…"

"But you can only see two of them at a time usually. And my brother's Kankuro, but it's easy to tell him because he had brown hair, but you can't tell because he's always wearing this big black cape of his, you see. And he has this purple face paint on, but he won't let me put any on. Harrumph, if he can put it on why can't I?"

Erika nodded. "Yeah, sounds nice. Can you describe them for me?"

Gaara thought about it. "If you first tell me your brothers' names and what _they_ look like, then I'll continue telling you about Temari and Kankuro."

Erika barely seemed to need to even thing about it. "Deal. I'll start by describing my older brother. His name's Itachi, and you can instantly tell that he's my brother because he looks a lot like me." (She seemed pretty proud of this fact, so Gaara figured that she must've looked up to Itachi as a role model.) "He has black hair, and it's sort of spikey, but in a not spikey way, you know?"

Gaara didn't really know, but he nodded anyways, going along with what Erika was saying.

"Except he has these shadows under his eyes, because he's always sort of tired, you know?" Then she glanced at Gaara's dark ringed eyes. "Though, they can't really compete with yours. My younger brother is named Sasuke, and he looks just like Itachi, except he doesn't ever really look tired at all. He's 6, two years younger than me." She grinned at Gaara. "You're turn."

"Well, Temari always carries this HUGE fan on her back. It's really pretty, with a black trim and it's yellowish white with three purple circles on it. I think they're moons or suns or something like that. I forget. Kankuro's a puppet master, and he always carries this weird looking mummy thing on his back with brown hair sticking out, so he looks sort of creepy but you're comfortable with him all the same, you know?"

Erika chuckled. "Is it stylish in Suna to wear things on your backs?" She asked.

"Huh?" Gaara asked dumbly.

"I mean like, Temari wears a fan on her back, Kankuro wears a mummy puppetry thingy on his back, and you have that big sand gourd! Is it fashionable or something? Because no offense but it's sort of weird."

Gaara shook his head. "No, it's not fashion. We just wear these because they're too big to go anywhere else."

Erika nodded. "Oh." She said, nodding in understanding. "Do you go to the Ninja academy in Suna?" She asked.

"Yep." Gaara said. He didn't mention that practically everyone there hated him.

Erika laughed. "I go to the Ninja academy in Konoha, you know. Just five more years and I'll graduate!" She exclaimed, sounding excited, and then sighed. "Ugh. Five years. I hate waiting." She fake pouted.

Gaara laughed. "Hey, it's not like you could speed up time." He said.

"Well, yeah." Erika said with a sigh, but in a _duh_ way. "But I could try to graduate early! Itachi did, you know, but he's pretty much a genius." Then she narrowed her eyes in an annoyed way. "And you know, I suspect that dad wants me and Sasuke to do that to, fat chance of that…" Then she grinned at Gaara. "Not that you would want to hear me rant on and on, and blab about all of this, right?" Erika asked.

"Nah, if you let me get mad at people and rant on and on, then I'm perfectly fine with you ranting on." Gaara replied, smiling. He felt fairly comfortable around this odd girl.

Erika grinned. "Alright then." She said, smirking. "But you asked for it, so you can't blame me when you get annoyed."

When they finally finished talking Gaara was certain that she was his first ever friend. They agreed to meet the next day, and the young redhead simply couldn't wait.


	2. Annoying Little Brother

"Good morning." Mikoto said cheerfully to Erika, ruffling her hair, laughing as Erika pushed her hand away, looking grumpy.

"Aw, mom. You just messed up my hair!" Erika exclaimed, letting her hair loose and running her fingers through the dark mass of hair. It was fairly long for an 8 year old.

"Since when do you care about how messy or neat your hair is, huh?" Mikoto asked, raising an eyebrow mischievously, smirking, and then she gasped and clapped her hands to her cheeks, mock gaping. "Oh, Erika, is there a boy you like?"

"Ew mom!" Erika yelped. "Don't be gross!"

"What's gross?" Sasuke asked, coming down the stairs. The six year old looked tired, and was barely opening up his eyes. He squinted in the light and you could easily tell that he had just woken up.

Mikoto laughed. "Your sister thinks that boys are gross." She informed her youngest son, smiling.

"Oh, is that all…." Sasuke asked sleepily, then his eyes turned wide… well, at least as wide as they could while he was still squinting "… _wait a minute_!" Sasuke exclaimed, suddenly realizing what his older sister had just said. "Boys are not gross!" He exclaimed, defending his gender.

"Yeah." Erika said, smirking. "And you'll keep telling that to yourself."

"Hey!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Don't argue." Mikoto said, laughing a little. This reminded her of her friend Kushina when they were younger. Kushina had declared that boys were disgusting, and Mikoto had been the one to try to defend the boys' side. Not that it helped any, Kushina was more stubborn than… well, anything really. "And Erika, boys aren't _that_ gross."

Erika raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?" She asked.

"Yes I'm sure. Now eat your breakfast." Mikoto said, slapping a pancake onto the plates.

"Sorry!" Itachi skipped down the stairs. "I'm so sorry that I slept in… we have a meeting today! I'm going to be late! Oh dear, I'm so, so sorry!" He exclaimed, his normally pale cheeks a dark beet red.

Mikoto smiled. "Don't worry about it, Itachi. The rest of us are all sleepyheads. Well, except for your dad. I think that you take after him. All I have to say is that you'd better not turn into a workaholic when you become our clan's leader."

Itachi grinned at his mom and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't worry." He said. "But I do plan on making everything I do have an effect on the clan. I think when I'm clan leader I want the people's input."

Sasuke stared at Itachi for a moment, and then asked (quite randomly too, I may add). "Can I wear your Hi-ate Itachi?"

"What, this?" Itachi asked, tapping his hi-ate. "Sure. Why don't you take care of it for me today, I'm going to be wearing my ANBU mask anyways."

Mikoto smiled. "You're growing up so fast Itachi. I feel like I can hardly catch up."

"Mom!" Itachi exclaimed. "I'm only 12!"

"And not to mention 4 years older than me." Erika said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Itachi smiled and ran his fingers through Erika's hair. "Don't worry. In these four years you're going to be at the academy, learning how to get even better than me. And I'm pretty sure that someday you will be."

Erika smiled at her older brother. She knew that he was lying, but still, it felt nice to have him compliment her. "But I'm not going to be boring like you and join the ANBU black Ops."

"How is joining the ANBU Black Ops boring?" Sasuke asked.

"It just is." Erika replied, with a small sigh. She shook her head as to say _boys, they'll never learn_. The eight year old clicked her tongue against her teeth and it made a_ tsk, tsk_ sound.

Itachi smiled. "While you two argue about how boring my job is, I'd better get going _to_ my job. Well, see you around!" He exclaimed, and then the clan heir left.

"Sheesh." Sasuke said, harrumphing slightly. "Why doesn't he ever stay around with us, huh?"

"He has a job, Sasuke." Mikoto pointed out. "Don't be so selfish."

"Yeah." Erika said, smirking. "Don't be so selfish, Sasuke."

"And you, Erika." Mikoto pointed her finger at her daughter, and then almost smiled in spite of herself. Every time she looked at her daughter she felt like she was staring in a mirror of her thirteen year old self. The young mother shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts and sighed. "Would you _please_ stop trying so hard to pick arguments with your little brother?"

"_M-om!_" Erika exclaimed, her voice sounding shocked and exasperated, though perhaps the shock wasn't at what her mother had just commanded her to do. The dark haired girl shook her head with a sigh of exasperation, as though saying: _Moms, they never seem to learn_.

Mikoto smiled slightly. Her youngest (and only) daughter seemed to think that her intelligence was higher above everyone else's, or at least above those in her family.

"It's not called _annoying_, it's called simply being friendly in a way that can make your brothers think a _lot_ more than they would without my help, that's it!"

Mikoto chuckled in spite of herself. "Oh, Erika, you think so oddly. The excuses you make up. They're reasonable in a completely unreasonable way! Now, you two had better go. It's time for you guys to get to the academy."

To her slight shock, it wasn't Erika but Sasuke who replied. "'Kay." He smiled at her. "Don't worry mom." Oops. She must've made that face… the one that she always did when she was suspicious or worried about something.

Mikoto smiled. "I'm not worrying." She said. "I'm simply thinking."

"Yeah." Erika said, raising an eyebrow. "Sure." Mikoto simply shook her head.

XxXxXxXxX

Erika quickly started running as soon as she was positive that they were out of their mother's eyesight. She didn't really like her mom worrying, and who would want to go to school with their little brother anyways? _Even if he _is_ only two years younger than me_. Erika thought, slowing down to the walk as soon as the academy came into sight. She was a fast runner, and had no doubt that her younger sibling would prefer much more to walk.

Erika slowed down a lot when she realized that class wasn't starting for a minute or two. "Erika! Hey!" Erika looked up, and frowned slightly. It was Ana (pronounced On-a), a girl who got excited over pretty much everything but didn't really talk to Erika that much. "D-d-did you hear?" Ana asked, panting.

"Hmm? What?" Erika asked, not exactly sure what Ana was talking about.

"Rumor has it that Katsu-sensei has a sudden surprise test for us." Ana exclaimed, and then her cheeks flushed a pink red, the color of crimson and the perfect embarrassed blush. "I just wanted to ask you if it was true!"

Erika laughed. "What do you expect me to have Ana? All of the answers just because I do well in class?" She smirked slightly. "Oh please Ana, it's not like the teacher asks me to confirm whether or not we're going to have a test!"

Ana flushed beet red even more than she already had. "Well, it was just that I thought you might know because you'll probably be number one rookie when we graduate… well…" She paused, and then smirked. "If only Kitari wasn't in our class, but nobody can beat Kitari. He's too cool!"

Erika sighed. _Here she goes again_. She thought. Hyuga Kitari was the best in the class, and not to mention the most crushed on that was their age. Practically every girl had a crush on the Hyuga, and Erika seemed to be the only one immune to that curse. The dark haired girl tuned Ana out, and instead thought about her meeting with Gaara, and how they would continue it that night.

_How did I know that he wanted to kill me_? Erika wondered to herself. _It was like… like I just looked at him and… well, I guess that I just predicted his movements_! She paused. _Is it…. could it be possible that I have the… no, or course not. Aren't I just being silly? There's no way that I could have the Sharingan, that's just can absolutely not it…_ But before she could think about it any further she realized that Ana had finished blabbing on and on about how awesome Kitari was. _Oops, better start nodding now_. Erika started nodding her head up and down like a bobble head doll.

"Really, you think so about Kitari too?" Ana asked, and then the dark haired gossipy girl laughed. "Well, now that I think of it, of course you do. All of us do." Then she paused and peered closely at Erika. "Ha. I thought that you were immune to that sort of stuff, but I guess that no girl's immune to Kitari, hmm? He's just _too cool_, you know!?" Her voice turned into a high pitched squeal at the end.

"Yeah… I guess so." Erika replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I suppose that Kitari's nice…. But even if I did like him, I'm not as obsessed as _some_ other girls, if you know what I mean." She raised an eyebrow. As if Ana understood, but Erika didn't expect her to anyways.

"Oh totally." Ana said, nodding as if she understood. Erika was forced to push back the urge to snort out loud. Yeah right, as if she understood. The chatty girl was just like every other girl, obsessed. "I mean, how the other girls just totally fawn over Kitari as if he's worth everything to them? Now that's just pathetic, thinking that they actually have a _chance_ with him."

Erika laughed. "And you think that you have a chance?" She asked.

Ana looked deeply insulted. "Excuse me!?" She asked, sounding exasperated, and she sighed. "Of course I think that I have a chance with Kitari." She spun around. "What, you think that I don't?"

"Well, you're not the type of girl who makes a big fuss over her looks as if she would simply die if even a single hair is out of place or something like that. But do you really think that Kitari likes you? Sheesh, we're eight!"

Ana stared at Erika as though she had sprouted a second head or said that ninjutsu did not require chakra to create. "Thanks." She said flatly. "Humph. If I had wanted you to be so mean I would have just left!"

"I'm just saying!" Erika exclaimed. "It's just that we're only eight and…"

"Whatever." Ana said flatly. "Bye!" And she dashed off, probably to tell someone that Erika was a Kitari hater. Sheesh. Now all the girls would probably hate her, well, at least until they had someone else to spill the goods on.

_Humph. Why are they obsessing over Kitari anyways? Like, he's just a boy_! Somehow she couldn't get it stuffed into her head that these girls were freaking out so much over a boy. Sure, Erika respected him for his intelligence but nothing else.

_Oh, it's time for class_! Erika rushed into the academy and sat down on her seat just in time as Katsu-sensei walked into the class. "Alright then." He said. "Today I'm giving you a surprise quiz. Don't worry it only contains all the stuff that you learned from my lectures, so you should do fine… at least, if you were paying attention."

There were sighs of relief across the class, and a few of annoyance. _Those are probably the kids from the back row._ Erika thought. Of course, that made complete sense. The back row had all those students who usually never paid attention. Some Uzumaki students, probably a Nara or two, and an Akimichi as well most likely.

"And _if _you so happen to fail…" Katsu-sensei continued. "I will be generous enough to give you a _second chance_, for you to study and such." He began to hand out the test papers. "As soon as you get yours you may begin. Don't forget your name!" He chuckled, though to be honest Erika didn't quite get the joke.

As soon as she got her paper Erika quickly scribbled her name across the top and then began. The dark haired girl nearly laughed out loud, the questions _were_ easy! Katsu-sensei was right though, you did have to pay attention in class in order to get the answers to the questions.

Pretty soon the Uchiha finished, and had to struggle to keep from laughing as a majority of Kitari's helpless fan girls stared at the quiz in confusion.

_Serves you right_. She thought, a slight smirk on her lips. _You should've paid attention in class instead of fawning over Hyuga over there._

XxXxXxXxX

"Hey Erika, how was school today?" Mikoto asked, brushing a lock of fizzy black hair from Erika's forehead.

"Good, except that we had this surprise test." Erika said, and then she paused to think about it. The Uchiha laughed. "Actually, I think that pretty much everyone knew about it except for me."

Mikoto shook her head. "Oh well." She said, smiling. "At least you know that you'll most likely pass the test anyways."

Erika frowned. "Most likely?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Puh-leez. Those test questions were easy peasy, I mean, Sasuke could have completed them!"

"Most likely." Sasuke said dryly as he walked in, with an uncanny expression that wasn't worthy of the young six year old and somehow made the younger boy look older. "I'm top of my class, and to be honest am not that surprised. The others in my class are complete idiots, and not just those annoying fan girls of mine."

Erika buried her face in her hands. "No. No. No. No!" She screeched, and the eight year old kicked the nearest item with her foot.

Unfortunately, for the item and perhaps Erika, it was a chair. This was unfortunate for the chair, as the eight year old possessed some strength and the chair instantly cracked and snapped into a couple of pieces. Erika flushed a crimson red and quickly sat down so that her mother couldn't see it… well, _yet_.

"Awn, so you do care for me!" Sasuke said, smirking because he knew perfectly well that Erika wasn't so miserable because he hated his fan girls just like he did… well, perhaps hate was too strong a word. But you get the point. He pressed both his hands over his heart. "I'm _so_ touched."

Erika waggled her finger in front of Sasuke's face. "I absolutely will _not_ accept the fact that _my_ little brother is a Hyuga Kitari!" She said, her features stormy in anger and annoyance. "No, no, no!" She, then, went on to proceed to pout like a spoiled little brat.

"Erika." Mikoto said softly with a slight sigh, and Erika sat down, crossing her arms together over her chest and sticking her bottom lip out in annoyance and frustration. She walked over to her daughter, wincing slightly as she caught sight of her broken chair. _Oh great. I wonder how much it will cost too replace that… honestly._ The dark haired mother ran her fingers through Erika's hair. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm _talking_ about Sasuke being mobbed by fan girls!" Erika exclaimed. "I will _not_ accept this fact!"

"Oh great, does this mean that every year has some guy who all the girls crush on?" Sasuke said in amazement, shaking his head with a sigh. "Man, do I ever feel sorry for him."

"Me too." Erika agreed.

Mikoto raised an eyebrow. Erika very rarely agreed on things with her younger brother, and when she did it was when she felt deeply about something… or was just being agreeable, which was extremely rare. "You're agreeing on something?" She asked in disbelief. "You must really hate this Hyuga kid." She said, staring at Erika.

"I don't hate him." Erika said, but the tone of her voice was scornful and annoyed. "It's just the fact that he's _annoying_."

Now Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Does this guy _really_ annoy you, sis?" He asked.

Erika glared at him. "Don't call me sis." She snarled. Mikoto sighed. _Time of agreement, over. Oh well, it's not like I expected it to last anyways_. She thought.

"I'll call you what I want!" Sasuke replied indignantly, and then he gave a little toss of his head in a childish, but cute way. "Anyways, is it the guy who's annoying, _or the fan girls_?"

Erika blinked. "You're right!" She exclaimed. Mikoto let out a sigh of relief. It was very rare that Erika and Sasuke acted their age… to be completely honest, sometimes she worried a little bit about this fact. "It is the annoying, big fat fan girls who cling onto Kitari like there's not tomorrow and fawn over him when he does the tiniest thing with their stupid little high pitched squealing voices that really tick me off!"

To be quite honest Mikoto was shocked that Erika was able to say such a long sentence, and so quickly to without even pausing to take a single little itty bitty breath. "Wow." She said, slightly dumbstruck. "So, uh, I guess that means that you _really_ must hate these fan girls of… what was this Hyuga's name again?"

"Kitari." Erika supplied.

"Right. You must really hate this Kitari's fan girls, don't you?"

"Totally." Erika agreed with a nod.

"For once, I agree with you!" Sasuke exclaimed. "Those annoying, stupid fan girls really get me annoyed. I mean, all they do is make gooey eyes and stare at you! They don't even take studying that seriously, and the only reason that they _would_ study is to impress the boy they like! Humph."

Mikoto chuckled. "Oh, it can't be _that_ bad, can it Sasuke?" She asked.

Sasuke stared… or rather, _glared_ at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked shocked. "It can't be that bad?" He paused. "You're right!" He said finally, letting out a sigh. "It's even worse!"

Erika laughed. "Yeah. I'm actually agreeing with you on this one!" She said, grinning. Apparently she had gotten over the slightly shocking fact that she was actually _agreeing_ with her little brother on something.

Mikoto slapped her forehead in shock. "Oh dear!" She exclaimed dramatically. "You're agreeing on something? Where did I go wrong!?" Then she laughed and wiped her hands on her apron. The young mother suddenly noticed the clock. "Oh dear, it's getting a little late. I'd better get to making dinner."

Sasuke glanced at the clock. "Okay. Thanks mom!"

Erika stood up. "I'm going to get to work on my Kunai practice, mom." She said, clipping a bag onto her belt. "You got any targets?"

Mikoto nodded. "Yeah." She said. "I think that I've got some that Itachi uses sometimes, you know, to improve even more than he already has improved." She opened a drawer than handed a target board to Erika. "Here you go." She said, smiling slightly and Erika took it.

"Thanks mom!" She exclaimed, whirling the kunai around her finger. It flew off and lodged itself on the nose of a picture of a woman.

Sasuke laughed. "Nice shot _sis_." He said, snorting through his nose.

Erika shrugged. "Oh well." She said, smiling. "But still, nice aim, eh?" She asked, smiling in a way that made her look cute and innocent. But hey, she was eight, right?

Sasuke snorted once again, a smirk on his expression. "That was a total accident, and you know it." He said.

Erika shrugged. "Oh well." She said with a slight sigh, and then she grinned. "But, hey, it looked impressive, didn't it?"

"Ah ha!" Sasuke exclaimed, pointing his finger at her in a slightly accusing way, as though he was a detective solving an extremely confusing mystery. "So you admit it! You _did_ do that by accident!"

Erika shrugged. "Whatever idea you come up with." She said, and then walked over to the picture where she yanked out the kunai and smiled at him again, looking for the entire world like an innocent little eight year old. "See ya."

"Hey!" Sasuke protested. "And I just got some solid evidence too…"

"Evidence of what?" Erika asked, laughing as she opened the door and skipped out. As she skipped out, she heard Sasuke say "awn", and he was probably pouting. The dark haired girl smiled and tucked her kunai in her pouch, then walked over to a tree, a little past the village. She smiled slightly as she saw the Hokage's faces, looming at her from the rock where they were carved.

She always thought that it was a little odd, but that was okay. These were the Hokage though, so she supposed that they could do whatever they wanted to do, right? Erika quickened her pace slightly when she caught sight of the small forest.

Erika tacked the target onto a tree, and then aimed her kunai and threw it. _Thud_. Erika ran over to the main area where the kunai should have landed and went red in the face when she saw another girl heading towards it. She looked about six years old, Sasuke's age. Just as the girl was bending over to retrieve it, Erika cleared her throat. "A hem." She said.

The girl looked up and her cheeks turned a bright shade of crimson, even redder than Erika's cheeks had been. "Yeah?" She asked, sounding uncertain.

"Uh, I was practicing my kunai aim and it went off… so, I think that this is mines…"

"Oh!" The girl exclaimed, turning even redder than before. Erika noticed that the girl's eyes were a pale white, sort of blank, so Erika knew instantly that she was a Hyuga. "I was practicing with my kunai aim as well, you know, and it flew of course… so I just figured that… well, I sort of just ran over to the first kunai I saw…"

"Oh, then never mind." Erika exclaimed, cutting her off. "This must be yours, mines is probably somewhere close to here…"

"Oh, no." The Hyuga girl said, shaking her head to signal no. "I actually have very bad aim… that's why I was out here…" She went even redder than before, to Erika's shock. She didn't think that there was a shade redder than the Hyuga's cheeks.

"What's your name, if you don't mind my asking?" Erika said, interrupting her again. _Oops. I think I'm being a bit rude._ Erika thought. _You think!?_ She asked herself, still thinking, of course. _I hope that this isn't becoming a habit. I'd embarrass myself _so_ much…_

"Hmm?" The girl asked, blinking. "Oh! My name! I'm Hyuga Hinata." She carried slight pride, and a tint of uncertainty, not to mention she seemed embarrassed.

"Oh, so you're a Hyuga, eh?" Erika asked, feigning shock. "I have a Hyuga in my class too, you know. His name's Hyuga Kitari, but he's a big pain in the neck you know, boys usually are." She smiled at the younger girl.

"Ooh, are you an Uchiha?" Hinata asked suddenly, though perhaps not so suddenly. They _had_ been talking about clans, after all.

"Hmm?" Erika asked, thinking about Kitari and his annoying fan girls. "Oh, yeah." She nodded.

"I have an Uchiha in my class, you know." Hinata said with a slight nod. "His name's Uchiha Sasuke. A clan heir, just like me!" But somehow, she seemed embarrassed by this. "Except, I'm the actual heir and Sasuke's just the son of the clan's leader." She sighed slightly. "But dad's not impressed. So I have to try to impress him, even if just a little bit."

"Sasuke's my brother!" Erika exclaimed, not exactly sure why she had blurted this out, but it seemed like it should have been appropriate now that they were talking about this.

"Really?" Hinata asked. "I have a little sister, you know." Then she sighed, looking sad. "But she's really brilliant, you know. She'll beat me in just about anything, even though she's only like four years old. Dad said that he won't waste his time with me, and even though I'm the older one she's the clan heir."

Erika blinked. "That's horrible!" She exclaimed. "Your dad shouldn't put so much pressure on you!"

Hinata shrugged. "Being a clan heir comes with lots of responsibility." She said, still sounding shy and uncertain of herself.

"No responsibility should come with that much weight and pressure!" Erika exclaimed. "I mean, I'm the daughter of my clan's leader and you don't see _me _under that much pressure!"

Hinata simply shrugged.

"I've got an idea." Erika said, snapping her fingers.

"What?" Hinata asked, sounding interested but her voice still quiet.

"Well, we both need practice on our kunai aim and other stuff, so why don't we meet each other once a week to practice? We can talk and stuff too, you know, once we get to trust each other more."

Hinata blinked her pale eyes, and then she smiled at Erika. "Well…" She said her voice slow and slightly hesitant. "Okay, I guess."

Erika smiled and shook hands with Hinata. "It's a deal."

Hinata glanced up at the sky. "Oh, it's getting late." She said, and then turned. "I'd better get going." She said softly. "It's getting pretty late."

Erika squinted. Hinata was right, it was getting a little darker. "Yeah, I'd better go too." She agreed. "See you next week!" She exclaimed, and then turned and dashed to the tree, where she took off her target. Then as she was right at the door of her house she smiled. _And to think._ She thought. _That I forgot about the kunai_.

XxXxXxXxX

"Good night!" Mikoto said as Sasuke stood up, yawning.

"Good night." Itachi said, standing up and rubbing Sasuke's head so that it messed up. Erika sighed slightly, glancing at her older brother. The older boy had worked hard with his job and came in late each night. He always had heavy bags under his eyes now. The ANBU Black Ops had been busy.

"You're going to sleep _already_?" Erika asked in disbelief. "Seriously Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugged. "You might like staying up all night and snoozing through class time…" He said. (Erika shot him an extremely dirty look) "But _I_ on the other hand, actually get my rest and listen in class."

"Ha ha, very funny." Erika said, her voice layered with sarcasm.

"I know right?" Itachi asked, grinning. "He's a comedian."

Mikoto and Erika groaned simultaneously. "Not you too." Mikoto said, at the same time Erika groaned, "Itachi!"

"What?" Itachi asked, blinking.

"Good go Itachi!" Sasuke cheered. His mother and sister fixed him with such harsh glares that he instantly went red in the face. "Uh… never mind." He said, shrinking back into his seat.

Itachi grinned. "Well, it's nice that I have at least one fan of my work." He said, with a slight laugh. "Anyways, you were getting to bed Sasuke?" He asked.

Sasuke nodded. "Right."

Erika stood up. "I have some businesses to attend to." She said.

Mikoto laughed. "There now, you sound like your father Erika. What matters do you have that need to be attended to right now?"

"It's private." Erika replied crisply, though her voice was showing that she was slightly hesitant. "I'll be back before morning, mom. I promise."

At this point Itachi joined in to the conversation. "Aw, come on mom, don't worry about her! After all, she's eight. Give her some freedom, and she'll return the favor with gratitude. I can even look after her if you want me to." He added, smiling kindly at Erika.

Mikoto frowned, and then she sighed. "Well…. No, I suppose that would not be needed, though I'm grateful for the offer, Itachi. I suppose I _am_ just worrying too much…" At this point _she_ had gotten a little teary eyed. "I guess that you've all just grown up… and I just hadn't noticed."

Erika smiled. "Don't worry about me mom, I promise that I'll be perfectly safe and match up to your standards."

Mikoto dipped her head so that she was staring at the floor, but mainly so that he bangs would cover her eyes, which were slightly clouded by a thin veil of tears. Oddly enough, she wasn't sad, so the Jounin had no idea why she was actually crying in the first place. "Okay." She said finally, her voice quiet, after a small pause. It was so silent that Erika had begun to worry about what her mom was thinking at the moment. "Go ahead and attend to your business, Erika. You'd _better_ come back by tomorrow."

Erika grinned, and gave her head a little shake so that her hair was pushed behind her shoulder and grinned at Mikoto. "Oh please mom." She said, grinning. "Don't worry about me getting home on time. Don't I always whenever I sneak out?"

Mikoto raised her eyebrows. "_What did you say_!?" She exclaimed.

Erika widened her eyes, and then she smirked slightly, though, of course, she hid that fact. "Nothing mom." She said, blinking her eyes in that perfect, I'm-perfectly-innocent way of hers, tilting her head to the side so that her hair drooped, tickling her neck. Then, to top it off, she added a sweet, utterly deceiving smile.

But Mikoto wasn't buying it. "I know that look, Erika." She growled. And sure enough, she definitely did. Kushina had pulled it off numerous times, those wide, soft blue eyes of hers twinkling and her pinkish red hair all pushed down to one side. Kushina had always said that gravity was a friend, though Mikoto had no idea what she had meant by it back then.

"See ya!" Erika exclaimed. As she left, she didn't notice Itachi silently escaping through the back door, nor the dark glint in his eyes.


	3. Nice Monster

**A/N**: Okay, I know that the path from Suna to Konoha is 3 days, but I _really_ want Erika to meet Gaara so I'd be happy if you just wouldn't mention it, okay?

...oh yeah, by the way, the plot won't pick up until later. _Waaaay_ later.

* * *

"You're late." Gaara said tonelessly, standing up as Erika walked into the cave, her steps silent.

"No I'm not." Erika replied, tilting her chin up, her features showing a slight smirk. "We never did agree on a time, just the date, so no specifics. Therefore, it's impossible for me to be late." She pointed at her dress, which was a dark bluish green but not quite turquoise and had the Uchiha clan symbol stitched on it, courtesy of Mikoto. "Besides." She added. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to run in this thing?" Then the Uchiha rolled her eyes. "No, of course you don't. Baka."

"Don't call me a baka!" Gaara growled, narrowing his eyes, his voice dark and threatening.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever." Erika said.

The sand around Gaara shifted slightly, and his eyes narrowed, but they had an uncertain glint in them. Then he blinked. The redhead looked confused about something. "I don't get it." He said quietly, his voice uncertain.

Erika frowned slightly, tilting her head to a side, looking confused. "You don't get what?" She asked.

"Can I ask you a question?" Gaara asked.

"Well... uh... yeah, sure, I guess so." Erika replied.

"Well... uh..." Gaara squirmed slightly. "Why aren't you scared of me?" He blurted out, and then he instantly flushed a tomato red in the face, obviously embarrassed.

"Hmm?" Erika asked, looking confused. "Scared of you?" She laughed. "Yeah right! You're a kid, just like me. I'm eight, you're only like seven or something. We're about the same age, and it's not like you're actually a Jōnin from some other village sent to assassinate me, so why would I be scared of you, right?" She asked, laughing.

"But still. I'm a monster." Gaara argued.

Erika laughed. "Well at least you're a nice monster." She replied, smiling, still laughing softly. "Though to be honest I don't think that you look much like a monster, but maybe if you're a monster that can do a henge or something like that..."

"I'm actually _really_ a monster." Gaara insisted.

"Mm Hmm." Erika said, laughing. "I totally believe you."

"Really!" Gaara said.

Erika stopped laughing when she realized that Gaara was serious. "Explain." She said, an eyebrow raised, her chin resting on her fists, a serious look on her face which just looked odd on the eight year old.

"I have a demon sealed inside of me." Gaara said simply. "My father sealed it inside of me. That's the reason that all the villagers fear me."

"Then you're father's a total idiot." Erika replied with a slight toss of her head.

"My father's the Kazekage of Sunatagure." Gaara said calmly, looking as though he expected Erika to go pale and start babbling apologies or something like that. "Just so you know." He added, when he noticed that Erika had no reaction to that fact.

"Kazekage or not, he's still a total idiot. The villagers are idiots too for fearing you, I mean, it's not like you did anything to make them fear you, right?"

"I've killed people." Gaara replied, his teal eyes flickering slightly.

"How'd you do that?" Erika said, sounding slightly shocked. "I mean, I very much doubt that you're too handy with a kunai or shuriken or something like that. No offense to you at all, but seriously, how'd you do it?"

"Sand." Gaara replied calmly.

Erika laughed. "Figures." She said.

"What do you mean by that?" Gaara asked, sounding confused.

"Well, it's just that, when I guessed that you were trying to kill me, it was with sand, wasn't it? So it makes a lot of sense that you'd use the same jutsu while doing you're other... _things, _right?" Erika said with a slight shrug. "I suppose that I should have guessed that earlier... any ninja would have, but hey, that's why there's five years 'till I graduate, right?"

Gaara blinked, looking slightly flustered. "Well, I'm not really that sure, I guess." He said. "And me moving the sand is _not_ a jutsu. It's a... a... a _gift_ from the demon sealed inside of me. The sand will protect me whenever someone tries to attack me, and nothing can penetrate it. Nothing at all."

"Really?" Erika asked, sounding interested. "But... well, but it's _sand_!"

"Obviously." Gaara replied with a slight smile. "Yes, I know that it's only sand. But if I can kill with it and nothing can penetrate it then I think it should be given some credit, right?"

"I don't believe it." Erika replied, frowning.

"I'll prove it. Throw something at me." Gaara said.

"Are you sure?" Erika asked, sounding like she thought that Gaara was a little nuts in the head. "I mean, you could get hurt."

Gaara laughed, but it was a croaky, unpracticed laugh that sounded as though laughing was pretty rare with the younger redhead. "Don't worry." He said. "The Shakaku won't let me get hurt anyways, I promise you that."

"Well..." Erika said, her voice still sounding hesitant.

"Just do it." Gaara said with an exasperated sigh.

"Are you..."

"I'm sure!"

"Fine." Erika grumbled, and then took the cover off her pouch and pulled out a kunai. She held it right beside her head, aimed and...

Gold-yellow sand shot out in front of Gaara and stopped the kunai. The kunai fell to the ground with a small clatter, pretty much useless if Erika was in a fight against Gaara. "Like I said." Gaara said, his voice tinted with a slight hiss. "Nothing harmful can touch me."

"That must be useful in a fight." Erika said with a grin.

"Oh, it definitely is." Gaara replied. The sand swished slightly, and then it thinned to a small stream of sand and floated over to Gaara, where it poured itself from an invisible pitcher into the large gourd that was nearly as huge as Gaara himself. The sand floated over to Gaara's hand then formed a small cap which Gaara screwed onto the gourd instantly, as though this act was a simple reflex. It probably was.

"So uh... why do you kill people?" Erika asked.

Gaara's face hardened, and it scared Erika a little seeing his features like that. "Hate. They laughed at me, said not a single kind word to me. How am I to react? Killing them makes me more powerful, and power is all that matters in this world."

"How do you know that?" Erika asked, pressing harder. "How do you know that hate is all you have? You said you have a brother and a sister... Kankuro and Temmimi, right?"

"Temari." Gaara corrected, not really sounding like he cared either way.

"Yeah, well, don't you care for them?" Erika asked.

Gaara paused. "Well... sort of... I guess... wait...!" He paused. "Wait... wait... _NO!_!"

"What?" Erika demanded, sounding slightly confused. "I just asked if you cared for them! I'm trying to show you that hate is not the most powerful thing! What about friendship and caring and... and all that kind of stuff? Huh?"

Gaara started clutching at his head, his fingers curled up and clutched tightly at his hair. "Stop it!" He yelled. "Stop screwing my head up?"

Erika raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" She asked.

"Just- just- just shut up!" Gaara yelled.

Erika held up her hands in the familiar sign of surrender. "Okay! Okay!" She exclaimed. "Just saying." She muttered under her breath. From the way that Gaara's eyes widened slightly (she couldn't say that he raised his eyebrows, seeing as he barely had any in the first place) he had obviously heard her but had for some reason chose to say nothing about it. "But... can I ask a question?" Erika asked.

Gaara hesitated, obviously rolling around in his head what type of question Erika had in mind to ask him. "Well... okay..."

"Great!" Erika cut him off. "So... uh... why don't you want me talking about love and hate?"

Gaara blinked. Obviously this simple question (which Erika thought he should have figured that she was going to ask) hadn't been asked to Gaara before. Or perhaps he simply killed whoever asked him straight up like Erika had. _Yeah_. Erika thought. _That's probably the case_. As a matter of fact, to be honest, Gaara _had_ killed the first three people to ask him that question. Also the only people who asked him. Everyone else had pretty much lost their confidence around Gaara. If you even went close to Gaara, according to the people at the Village of Suna, you were brave. Brave, or crazy. Like, mentally ill crazy.

"That's personal." He replied, jutting his chin out.

"Hmph." Erika replied, harrumphing. "Why don't you tell me?" She asked.

"Because it's personal!" Gaara said.

"But you said that you would answer a question!"

"Well then too bad!" Gaara replied hotly, his eyes flashing.

"But you promised!"

"I didn't promise anything!" Gaara replied.

Erika jutted out her chin. "Yes you did. You said that you would answer a question!"

"I said that you could _ask_ a question." Gaara pointed out. "I said nothing about answering it."

Erika pouted. After all, Gaara _did_ have a point, even if the excuse was kind of lame. Even though Erika would have totally used it. "Fine." She said. "But I swear, one of these days, I'm gonna squeeze it out of you, and you'll _have_ to tell me."

Gaara laughed. "I doubt that." He replied.

Erika raised an eyebrow. "Oh." He said. "You'll be telling me. Sooner or later." She smirked in that eerie, Uchiha-like way. _I guess that my heritage _is _useful for something anyways_. She thought.

XxXxXxXxX

"When we make our attack, what do you think will happen, huh?" Nagato asked.

"How am I to know?" Itachi asked calmly, his hologram blinking.

"The Hokage's Shinobi will defend his village." Kisami, Itachi's assigned 'partner' said calmly, but Itachi heard a tint of worry in his voice, or perhaps he was simply imagining things. "But... but what about _your_ clan, hmm, Itachi?" He asked.

"They are no danger to the Akutsuki." Itachi snapped. "My clan has only a kekkei genkai. They are no threat to our organization."

"I would feel better if they were out of the way." Nagato said in his hissing voice.

"Good, then Itachi can take care of that, correct?" Sasori, or at least the stooped puppet that was showed instead of his true form said. His dark eyes sparkled, almost as though he was teasing or testing the Uchiha prodigy. Probably testing. Actually, _certainly_ testing.

"Yeah Itachi. You can take care of that, _right_?" Zetsu asked in that deep voice of his. As the tracker and spy, he didn't really talk much, but he was still the same as all of them were.

Itachi gave the rest of the Akutsuki his most potential icy Uchiha glare. They all lowered their gaze, even Kisami, who, used to the Uchiha's glares, stayed glaring back for a while before he finally lowered his gaze as well.

"I _will_ take care of it." He replied coldly, his hologram tilting it's chin up, his eyes narrowed. "You needn't worry about that problem. I'll wipe them out. And I know just how to do it too."

"Be careful Itachi." Konan said, brushing a strand of anime purple hair from her forehead. The only girl in the Akutsuki, and probably the softest one, Konan was still worried, despite the fact that she wasn't really _that_ soft. It was simply that the others didn't have a soft spot. "I know that you're a genius and a prodigy, but you're still just a kid."

Itachi's eyes flashed. "That's what they all said." He hissed. "And, oh, I'm telling you, they are going to seriously regret it."

"They had better." Nagato replied, his voice cold and deep.

"Yeah, yeah, Konan, stop worrying." Itachi said with a wave of his hand.

The hologram of Nagato's eyes flashed, and he narrowed his eyes, his facial piercings making him look simply all the scarier. "Do not insult Konan." He hissed. "She's simply being concerned for your health."

"I don't need you guys to worry for me." Itachi replied. "I'm going to make all those who called me young and _just a kid_ pay for saying that to me. Every single one of them."

"And how do you expect to do this, hmm little kiddy-boy?" Hidan asked with that crazed, nutty laugh of his. Everyone was pretty shocked that he hadn't shot out an insult or anything so far. Hidan was loud, and not to mention pretty foul mouthed.

"Oh, you'll see Hidan." Itachi replied, his voice cold and even as the eyes of his hologram burned into those of Hidan's. For a 12 year old, it was pretty intense. But then, Itachi was anything _but_ ordinary. He laughed softly, though somehow it was almost and pretty much just as scary as Hidan's crazed, mad laugh. His each word was quiet and measured, giving the twelve year old a dangerous air. "You'll see."

XxXxXxX

Gaara didn't get it. This person... this _girl_... why wasn't she scared of him? _Everybody_ was scared of him... even father and Temari and Kankuro were scared of him, and they were _family_! Yet this girl... she wasn't scared of him. She laughed at him, conversed to him... and didn't show a single sign that she was afraid!

"Hey, _hello_, Gaara, wake up!" Erika said, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

There it was again. She was willing to be rude to him, to roll her eyes at him, to treat him like... like... like a normal person.

"Hey! Gaara!" Erika said, sounding annoyed. "You know, it's rude not to talk to the person sitting _right next to you_." She laughed. "Unless there's someone else you're sitting next to you that has some sort of an invisible jutsu."

"Invisible jutsu?" Gaara asked, sounding startled. "There's an invisible jutsu?"

Erika sighed. "No, there is not, Gaara." She said. "Weren't you paying attention?"

Gaara's cheeks turned just as red as his hair. "Well, uh..." Not exactly.

Erika shook her head and clicked her tongue against her teeth to make a tsk tsk sound. "You know, you should be less rude. Maybe this is why the villagers hate you, cuz you've got like _no _manners at all."

Gaara's face hardened again, and Erika swore that it looked like she could just take a knife and carve it up like stone, it was so cold. "I have no manners because the villagers hate me." He said coldly. "Not the other way round. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, whatever." Erika said, grinning. "Just kidding!" She exclaimed when Gaara frowned. "Sheesh, can't even take a joke?"

Gaara blinked. "That was a joke?" He asked.

"Duh." Erika said, wiping her hands on her dark green dress and she tucked her chair behind her shoulders. "Seriously, do you have _any_ sense of humor?"

Gaara's cheeks went even redder than they had been before. "I have a sense of humor!" He exclaimed, defending himself. "I _totally _have a _great_ sense of humor!"

"Uh huh." Erika said, standing up, a hand on her hip, looking pretty skeptical. "I _totally_ believe you." She said, her voice layered thickly with sarcasm. "You _really_ and _totally_ have a good sense of humor." She smirked, mocking the short redhead.

"Oh shush." Gaara said, still red in the face.

"Hmm hmm." Erika said, giggling. Then she glanced up at the sky. "Whoops. It's getting _waaay_ to late... or should I say, _early_?"

"Huh?" Gaara asked, obviously confused.

"Look!" Erika said, pointing at the sky with a small sigh.

Gaara looked up. "I don't see anything." He replied defiantly.

Erika sighed. "The stars." She said. "Do you _see the stars_!?"

"Well duh." Gaara said. "Even if there isn't really much of them." He added.

"Exactly." Erika said. "There isn't that much stars in the sky anymore!" She said. "That means that, if the stars and disappearing, it's turning to morning." She yawned, her hand over her mouth. "That means that we've been up _all night_." She grinned. "That might be normal for you, but _not_ for me, that's for sure."

"Well you'd better get used to it." Gaara replied grinning, leaning back and holding his hands to hold up his head in a very Nara-like way.

"Well, I'd better be getting back to Konoha." Erika said, running her fingers through her hair which had gone pretty mussed up and a little dirty from leaning down on the rocks in the cave.

Gaara's smile drooped. "Yeah." He said. "And I'd better get back to Suna."

"Ugh." Erika said. "My mom's gonna make me take a shower." She said, shivering. Gaara couldn't comprehend it. How could she _dislike_ her mom caring for her? It was unthinkable.

"My dad doesn't care whether I'm clean or not." Gaara replied dully. Not that he ever did get dirty or injured anyways, plus it felt odd saying that.

Erika laughed. "Well then you're lucky." She said. "I can imagine that the Kazekage can be pushy if he wants to, besides, I _hate_ taking baths." She smiled. "Well, see ya!" She said just as the stars all had left. There were only three left. "I'd better get home before the stars are all gone. Or else I'm going to be in bigger trouble than you crushing me in sand."

"What trouble?" Gaara asked, wide eyed. After all, what possibly could be _worse_ than him crushing her in sand until she died?

Erika grinned. "Oh, that trouble?" She asked. "It's called my Mom."

XxXxXxX

Erika rubbed her eyes, bleary eyed as she slowly ate her breakfast.

"Wow, you sure look tired." Sasuke commented. "Did you finally realize how ugly you look?"

"Shut up." Erika mumbled.

Mikoto raised an eyebrow. "Wow." She commented. "You must be really tired."

Erika opened an eye, cocking an eyebrow. "How can you tell that?" She asked.

"You didn't come up with a witty retort." Uchiha Fugaku said, walking into the room. The clan leader looked tired as well, the dark purplish black bags under his eyes enough to compete against Gaara's.

"Dad!" Sasuke exclaimed, blinking. "You're... you're eating breakfast with us?"

Fugaku laughed. "Last time that I checked." He said, a mischevious glint in his eyes. "I was part of this family. Yep, that's what happened the last time I checked."

Silence.

Fugaku raised, an eyebrow, looking curious and slightly miffed. "I _am_ still part of the family, right?"

"Uh..." Erika said uncomfortably, shifting from side to side. "Well, uh... of course you're part of this family... it's just that..."

"You haven't been here around very often." Itachi said, his eyes focused coldly on his father, but his voice was soft and slightly unsure. Erika blinked, turning around slightly in her chair. She hadn't noticed Itachi standing there, leaning against the wall. "So it was just a little bit of a shock..." He paused when Fugaku stared at him as though he was an alien.

"What?" Fugaku asked.

Itachi's dark eyes widened, as though the twelve year old had not really meant to say those words out loud, but _had_, even if just by accident. "Nothing." He mumbled, his cheeks beet red, staring down at his toes as though they were extremely interesting. "By the way, Sasuke." He added, his voice soft. "Can I have my hi-ate back now please?"

Sasuke's cheeks immediately went a fiery red in embarrassment, as though coals had been pressed to his pale cheeks. "I- I- I-" He spluttered, the red color in his cheeks refusing to die down.

"Hey, Sasuke, you look like you fell into a tomato patch instead of the usual white tub of paint." Erika said in a teasing voice, quickly going back to herself.

_Bam_! Mikoto slammed the plate full of food on the table and everybody jumped, then all the eyes quickly darted to the dark haired girl.

Itachi had been slightly annoyed that he had managed to be surprised, as Uchiha's weren't exactly fond of being surprised. Itachi was no exception, and probably would have whipped out his kunai with whoever had surprised him against the wall, though doing that to his mom? That counted as either he _wanted_ to be grounded (no matter how absolutely_ lame_ he thought it was, I mean, what kind of ANBU Black Op gets _grounded_? Right?) or he was simply incredibly stupid. And Itachi was neither. And holding his breakfast kunai at throat and against the wall? Even more stupid.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" They all roared in unison, except for Itachi who was quickly smoothing down his clothes, trying to look dignified. That is, _if_ a twelve year old possibly _could_ look dignified in the first place.

Mikoto blinked innocently. "What do you mean?" She asked, still blinking.

"You know what we mean!" Sasuke said. "You- you- you shocked us!"

"You mean surprised, baka." Erika said.

"I am not a baka!" Sasuke hissed.

"Yeah, yah, say what you say, not that any of us believe you."

At this point poor Sasuke really _did_ look like he had been dropped into a tomato patch.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mikoto said and instantly started serving food as Itachi sat down and took a seat at his usual spot, left to his father.

"Yes you do." Itachi said calmly.

Mikoto looked at her son's cold, steely gray eyes and instantly felt a pang of sadness. Itachi had become the emotionless, Konoha ninja soldier, a pawn in the game of this Shinobi network. She had given up the life of a jounin to become a mother, and she was sad that her son didn't show emotion anymore. "Of course I don't know." Mikoto said, forcing what she hoped sounding like a carefree laugh.

"Of course you know." Itachi said confidently. "Just as Sasuke was about to get mad, you slammed the food on the table."

Mikoto shrugged. "I had good timing. So what?"

Itachi laughed. "Hardly good timing." He said. "You slammed the food with both hands. This means that you needed control, as well as the fact that I felt you emitting chakra to your hands to add extra force, but not too much. You could have gently put it down with one hand, I've seen your balance and control. It's amazing."

Had her son not been arguing with her Mikoto would have gone red in the face at the compliment.

"Also, you hesitated before you answered me, and your laugh was almost certainly forced. When you said that you didn't know that we were talking about, you said it just as Sasuke went volcano red."

At this point Sasuke really _did_ volcano red, feeling as though both his siblings were picking on him, just because he was the youngest. "I DID NOT!" He interjected, yelling at the top of his lungs.

Erika clapped her hands. "Good for you Itachi." She said, smiling.

Mikoto glared at her. Okay, it wasn't a Uchiha ice glare that would make anybody and everybody back down, but it was a warning glare, and Mikoto, as a mother, was pretty good at those.

"Er... I mean... Itachi! How could you?"

Fugaku laughed. "Is this a normal dinner?" He asked.

"No." Sasuke replied, once he had finally cooled down. "We were actually pretty calm this time."

Fugaku paled even more than anyone would have thought humanly possible. "B-b-b-" He sputtered, his eyes looking worried, either about how his wife kept her sanity, or, more likely, if he would ever survive the _next_ family dinner that he chose to attend.

"Don't worry." Sasuke added. "We mellowed ourselves down more than halfway for your sake."

At this point Fugaku was sweating more than a civilian in a fight against a Kage. Not that the Hokage would pick a fight against a civilian, but metaphorically speaking...

_I'm going to have such a __headache_... Fugaku said.

"I think we froze his brain." Itachi said, grinning, a rare thing to see if you were not in his family, or perhaps the Akatsuki.

"Nice." Erika said, slapping Sasuke's hand.


	4. The Massacre

**A/N:** So, like... Merry Christmas! Should I post a chapter on Christmas or something like as a gift to the readers...?

Nah... But should I? ARRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! (Darn you Santa! ...not that Santa exists...)

Rewatching Sasuke Retrieval Arc... who else finds Kimimaro totally hilarious? Okay... I see that you think that I'm crazy... well, just before he's about to kill Lee, Lee's just like: Wait... need to eat my medecine. And instead of killing Lee, he just let's him drink his medecine! Like, he's going to die, WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR MEDECINE!?

* * *

**FOUR MONTHS** **LATER...**

_Clang!_ The kunai fell to the ground, useless.

"It's no use trying to kill me with physical weapons." Erika said, her voice trembling, her fingers curved and wrapped around the small purple pendant charm on her necklace.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. The thirteen year old boy looked seriously ticked off. Not good.

Erika had made a vow not to tick him- or, rather, whoever had done what- what had _happened_ off. Guess she had already done that. Whoops.

"We'll just see about that." Itachi said and he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Erika's eyes widened and the now nine year old spun around. Itachi was there, sword in hand and he thrust the sword forwards to hit Erika but the sand rushed to her rescue, covering the spot.

"What jutsu is this?" Itachi asked, his sharingan eyes narrowed. Except they weren't a some normal sort of Sharingan. He looked up at Erika, his eyes flashing in anger.

Erika swallowed and clutched at her necklace. The gift had protected her but she still wasn't too sure if she would survive this night.

**-FLASHBACK-**

_"Hey Gaara!" Erika said, smiling, as she skipped into the cave, twirling around. She wore a deep, dark forest pine green dress with a pouch strapped onto a belt on her waist. The Uchiha symbol was clear and bold on her back. A red and white fan._

_Gaara raised his eyes. "What's with the new clothes?" He asked._

_"It's my birthday, duh." Erika said._

_"I knew that." Gaara said. "I just didn't know that you'd be getting ugly clothes."_

_"Hey!" Erika protested. She didn't punch him. She knew what would have happened._

_"Just kidding!" Gaara said, holding up his hands with a laugh._

_Erika wanted to scowl, but her heart wasn't into it. Her lips betrayed her and she grinned._

_Then Gaara shifted slightly, as though uncomfortable._

_Erika was instantly suspicious. "What?" She asked._

_"Hmm? What do you mean?" Gaara asked, trying to look confused but ending up looking like a total idiot._

_"Please. Don't do that with me. You're a terrible liar. I noticed. You shifted slightly to the side and spoke too soon. What's up?"_

_"Nothing."_

_"Yeah, I totally believe you. Now tell me."_

_"Nothing!"_

_"You're a horrible liar."_

_Gaara swallowed. This girl figured him all out, and he couldn't kill her... over the past four months he had poured out _everything_ to her. Everything. She had become his best friend, his confidant... his usual reaction to things was to kill, but over the past three months he hadn't killed. Not _one single person_. It was shocking. _Here goes nothing_. He thought, his usual confidence draining from him. Gaara shifted. Again._

_Gaara held out his hand. From his fingers dangled a thing black chain with a small purple, crystal pendant. Something a golden color swirled inside like a whirlpool jutsu that Erika had seen on one of her Uchiha training scrolls._

_"Oh my gosh!" Erika squealed like a little girl. So much for clan dignity, right? Not that she did have any in the first place... "That necklace is so pretty!"_

_"Kankuro made it." Gaara said with a nod._

_"Right. You're brother, the one who likes making puppets."_

_"That's him." Gaara's mouth felt dry. Why was it so hard for him to find his tongue?_

_"That's my birthday present?"_

_"Yeah..." Suddenly Gaara felt a wave of worry rush over him. What if she didn't like the present? What if she thought it was stupid? What if..._

_"I LOVE IT!" Erika rushed forwards and hugged Gaara so tight that the redhead thought that he was going to die from lack of oxygen... or maybe just from that awkward position that his arms now hung, unable to move from Erika's hug. Who knew that a nine year old kid could be so strong?_

_"You're squeezing... too... tight..."_

_"Whoops." Erika stepped back, her cheeks nearly as red as Gaara's hair. "Sorry about that..." She took the necklace from Gaara and hung it around her neck, her eyes glinting with joy. "But I really _do_ like this necklace, Gaara, the designs's good too..."_

_"Temari made the design." Gaara said. "Kankuro made it." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I sort of got them to pitch in and help me out. But I made it work."_

_"Made it work?" Erika asked blankly, obviously confused._

_"Yeah." Gaara said, nodding. "I. Made. It. Work."_

_"H-h-how does it work?" Erika stuttered. She had simply thought that it was an ordinary necklace with a cool swirl design._

_"Like this." Gaara said, throwing a kunai at Erika._

_Erika did what any sane person would do. She widened her dark eyes, and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"_

_Swish_.

_Gold-yellow sand rushed up and made a small _swish_ing sound in the air, and the kunai landed on the ground with a clatter._

_"Well, that will probably be pretty useful in fights." Erika said, obviously dumbfounded. She remembered... four months ago when she first met Gaara. She had done the exact same thing to the Kazekage's son and the exact same thing happened._

_"As long as you wear this necklace the sand will protect you." Gaara said. "This is my strongest sand, my ultimate protection sand. Don't worry, I can control all sand, so it's not like I'm going to get hurt or anything. But... uh... I hope you like it..."_

_He stopped talking. Erika rushed forwards and hugged him. And that was the biggest thank you that she could give._

**-END OF FLASHBACK**-

"Itachi, why are you doing this?" Erika said, rolling over as Itachi made yet another attack with his sword.

"Why shouldn't I?" Itachi asked, his eyes cold, merciless. He swung his sword and a young girl with dark hair and soft, twinkling eyes fell to the ground, her body landing with a thump.

Erika winced. "Because... because... because... it's wrong! That's not reason enough for you?"

Itachi's long, dark bangs covered his blood red Sharingan eyes. "Leaf Konoha Shinobi kill people every day. Is _that_ right?"

"No... but..."

Itachi laughed, but it had no joy in it. "Then why should that pathetic argument work on me?"

"You'll be betraying your people. Your friends." Erika said, tears in her eyes. "The people you've worked with. Why won't you just stop now?"

"And be contained in a prison... a trap... something like that? No."

"You're betraying the people that you were loyal to!" Erika argued.

Itachi's eyes flashed. "You just don't get it, do you?" He asked coldly, angrily. "I was never loyal to this clan. I was never loyal to these _people_. I belong somewhere else. I've got plans. Big plans. You can count on that. But the clan Uchiha will do nothing but interfere with this plan. The Uchiha's will do nothing but get in the way, and what _was_ my clan has nothing to do with my plans."

He took a breath.

"Well, that's everyone." He said. "I would kill you, but you're too weak. I might kill you later." He turned and started walking towards the Uchiha mansion.

Erika's eyes widened even more, round as moons when she realized Itachi's intentions. "Itachi! No!" She screamed, running after him.

Itachi whipped around and his hands whipped out to slap her in the face. His hand connected with a solid wave of sand. Erika shivered. She would.. she could... if she kept the necklace on, she would never feel pain ever again. Or at least, not physical pain.

Itachi's blood red Sharingan eyes narrowed. "Cursed jutsu." He muttered under his breath and he once again turned, then started walking away.

_Stop Itachi. Now. Stop Itachi_. Could she? Erika ran forwards. How would she stop Itachi? He had more skill, more practice, more control that she did.

"Itachi!" The nine year old yelled, running forwards. Her feet crunched against the dirt gravel road as she ran forwards. "Stop!"

But she stopped as she reached the manor. The doors were open and Erika cautiously walked in, and the sight that she saw made her stomach churn. There were her father and mother, knelt before Itachi.

Erika couldn't move. Her body was frozen, and her feet felt glued to the ground.

"You are no son of mine." Fugaku said, his voice cold and angry.

"No, Fugaku." Mikoto said quietly. "Don't argue."

"But...!"

"I understand." Mikoto said to Itachi, her voice soft, her eyes shimmering as though she was forcing her tears back.

Itachi nodded, his face as icy and stony as ever. "You know." He said. "I'm sorry. Really, I truly am." He said.

_Slash_.

The blade of his sword swung so fast that it made the air hiss. Erika felt her stomach churn and spin around, feeling sick. Her father fell to the ground, his eyes closed, his hand stiff, his clothes soaked in dark red blood. Sticky looking, oozing blood dropped onto his clothing and the cloth soaked it in greedily as though drinking the red liquid.

Erika felt totally, and thoroughly, sick. And then she felt anger, burning boiling anger. People said that fear was cold. For Erika, in that second, it felt hot. A burning, boiling _hot_, as though someone had set her blood on fire.

"How could you?" She screamed. She didn't cry. She wouldn't let Itachi have the satisfaction of seeing her cry. "_How could you do that_!? And to your own family?"

Itachi shrugged. "Family is what family is." He said simply, then his sword swung and Mikoto fell to the ground. Her straight, dark black hair covered her face, and blood tainted her clothing the same way that Fugaku's clothing had sucked in the father's blood.

Erika instantly felt her blood freeze, the complete opposite of what had just happened a while ago. She sank to her knees, and forgot all about what she had just thought. All she could think of was her mother, there on the ground, dead. Her world swam around her, blurred through tears. "How could you?" She asked, then looked Itachi into his eyes and glared at him coldly. "How could you?" She repeated, pouring all her anger and hate and sadness into her eyes, into the glare. It was a true glare, worthy of any true Uchiha. But Itachi had seen this glare, seen it often enough in the mirror.

Itachi laughed. Erika felt sick, absolutely sick. How could he kill the Uchiha clan, do what he had just done, and laugh? Then Itachi stopped, and stared right into her dark Uchiha eyes. Just then Erika noticed his odd, different Sharingan spinning. It spun and whirled round and round and round. Itachi's voice as he spoke was cold, merciless. "Mangekyo Sharingan: Tsukuyomi."

* * *

Erika was in a dark place. It smelled like nothing, but it had a cold, metallic smell to it. _Blood_. Erika thought, feeling utterly and thoroughly sick.

"If you're wondering where you are." Itachi said, his voice coming from a little to Erika's left. Erika turned her head but could see nothing but his cold red eyes.

_Great._ Erika thought. _Of course Itachi would be here too. Of course._ She felt mad, but helpless too.

"You could just ask." It was lighter now, and Erika could see clearly. A around her was black nothingness, just darkness. But she could see Itachi clearly now, even though he was standing on darkness. Erika was sitting on something... but it was nothing but black.

"Where am I?" Erika asked angrily, but she felt stupid asking the simple question.

Itachi laughed. "I actually didn't think that you'd ask, but since you did, I'll keep my word and tell you where you are." He swept his arms around him. "You." He said. "Are in my Genjutsu."

"Eye genjutsu?" Erika murmured, thinking that Itachi hadn't heard.

Apparently he had. "Yes, and not just some normal stupid eye genjustu either." Itachi said, laughing.

Erika felt as though her heart had stopped. "W-what kind of eye genjutsu is this then?" She asked, her body filled with dread. She didn't really want to know... but... at the same time she couldn't keep her curiosity inside.

Itachi laughed again. _I'm really, really starting to hate that laugh_. She thought. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He asked, an incredibly stupid smirk on his lips. "This." He said dramatically, crouching down so that his eyes were at the same level as Erika's. Erika wanted to look away but she couldn't. Her eyes refused and stared right back into Itachi's, feeling a cold level fear and dread. "Is the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan."

Erika's eyes widened. "But..."

"Yes." Itachi said.

Erika's eyes narrowed. "You know." She said. "You'll never get away with this. Pretty soon the Hokage will know, and the ANBU will be after you... and... and... and..."

"And are you going to keep babbling on like this forever?" Itachi asked, smirking. "I'm more powerful than a lot of the ANBU, after all, I _was_ one of their captains, wasn't I? No, by the time that the ANBU arrive, I will be long gone."

"You'll be labeled a missing nin!" Erika said.

Itachi shrugged. "No lunch comes free." He replied simply, sounding very calm.

"You won't be long gone." Erika said furiously, than smiled triumphantly as she thought of something. "In fact, right now, you are just wasting your time, talking to me."

Itachi laughed. "Wow, you really _are _stupid, aren't you?" He asked.

Erika felt inexplicably angry. After all, here was her brother, who had killed the entire clan. And she was angry? Not scared on little bit. Besides, no Uchiha likes to be called stupid, and this Uchiha was no exception.

"This genjutsu, it can be forever in my genjutsu, and it will take no time at all in the real world." Itachi said.

Erika felt even colder than ever. "Are you going to kill me?" She whispered.

Itachi laughed. "Goodness. What a nice question." He said. "Are you going to kill me? Must be an odd question to ask your very own _brother_, eh?"

Erika narrowed her eyes. "Well?" She asked, practically spitting. "Are you going to kill me or not?" Her voice was filled with anger and hatred, her eyes glaring at Itachi with pure anger. She wanted to stand up but she felt too heavy, as though something was pushing down on her. She knew that this must have been part of the genjutsu, and felt mad that she was helpless to do anything about it.

She felt like crying, but she had felt all cried out by this time.

Itachi was silent, staring at the ground. He looked... was it possible? Guilty. Itachi's look was one of guilt, it was pained and sad though only for a moment. He almost seemed to catch himself, and once again his eyes became that cold, heartless, glassy view. He stared at his younger sister, and Erika shifted. It was as though his eyes were boring into Erika's, staring at her soul. Then he spoke, seeming to come to a decision.

"I will spare you." Itachi decided, then smiled wickedly. "After all." He said, baring his teeth. "You have the same eyes as me." Then he rushed forwards so quickly that he was a blur.

Erika felt her something smash against her head, then her head throb in pain and then every thing was black.

* * *

Erika opened her eyes to a bright flash of white, and felt something damp on her forehead. A brown haired medic-nin with big, kind chocolate brown eyes and holding a bowl of water and a towel in her hands smiled. It was a nice smile... like mom's... mom... Erika hadn't forgotten. She had read where people woke up from unconsciousness they had forgotten, then after a few seconds it would come crashing down on them. But Erika had simply remembered. She hadn't forgotten, and she wished that she had. But it would come upon her all too soon anyways.

"Good." The medic-nin said, smiling down at her. "You're awake then?" She made it a question, not a statement.

"When's the funeral?" Erika asked softly, quietly.

The medic-nin's smile dropped. "Ah... the funeral. I don't know, to be honest. The Hokage expects to see you at his office." She smiled again, that soft, kind smile. And she turned her heel and walked away.

Then Erika realized that the smile was forced, faked. Erika stood up, still wearing the blue white hospital gown that they had obviously given her. _I am _so_ not going to the Hokage looking like this_. Erika thought. _No way_. Erika had (as slightly embarrassing as it was) never been in a hospital before. She fell and skinned her knee once in her lifetime. Once. She was very young and her mom quickly used a simple healing jutsu on her. Erika was careful not to be clumsy after that, and of course, she never bumped into things. Getting hurt, odd as it was, was not something that had ever really happened to Erika truly.

The dark haired girl opened a drawer. Her clothes were inside of it. Bingo. She quickly got changed then started to the door with those quiet, soundless steps that she had. She had always thought it a bad habit that was just natural instinct but Itachi had told her that it would become useful when she was a ninja... Itachi had told her. Erika felt a wave of anger rush over her. Itachi. That traitor, that scum, that... _I hate traitors_. Erika thought to herself, then was about to open the door further when she stopped. She heard a voice say a name and the name had been hers.

"Uchiha Erika." A voice said. It was the voice of the brunette with a false smile. Erika stiffened, though ever so slightly. "That's right. The last surviving Uchiha."

"Amazing." A new, unidentified voice said. It came from a redheaded medic-nin who's hair was done in a quick, messy ponytail. Her voice was awed, shocked, amazed. Whatever you called it.

"Yeah, that's right, I..."

At this very moment Erika decided that she wasn't very fond of where this conversation had started heading and she boldly walked out to them. The medic-nin froze, mouths clamped shut, looking very embarrassed no matter how much they had tried to hide it from her.

"Hello." Erika said in her most innocent, sweetest voice ever yet. "I hope that I wasn't interrupting an important conversation." She smiled sweetly, but her eyes flashed in warning. _Don't talk about me behind my back._ Her look said. _Or else_... The eyes of the medic-nin widened, and Erika left, smirking in satisfaction.

Finally, she was out of the hospital. _Finally_! She thought._ Seriously, from the looks of those medic-nin you would have thought that I came back from the dead_! It was true, after all.

Unfortunately, the stares had not stopped. Outside, wearing her dark green dress with the Uchiha symbol sewn proudly onto the back, with her dark black eyes and soft, silent step, everyone stared at Erika. It made her uncomfortable, but she refused to squirm. Eyes straight ahead, locked on the Hokage's tower, the Uchiha walked forwards, acting as if she didn't care a single bit. Too bad for her though, because she really wanted to snap at people. As she walked on, she heard snatches of conversation.

"...did you hear...?"

"...Uchiha..."

"... only survivor too..."

"...number one rookie..."

"... great clan..."

"... all wiped..."

She felt like poison under study. It wasn't a very nice feeling, no, not at all.

Almost at the Hokage's tower, Erika snapped. She turned to a group of woman, obviously civilians. "You know." She said, flipping her hair behind her shoulders, then dropped her voice lower and more quiet, as though she were saving the woman from being embarrassed though she made her voice just barely loud enough so that everyone could hear her speak. The Uchiha looked the woman straight in the eye, and she might have smiled, had the circumstances been different, at their squirming. "It's rude to talk about people behind their back."

The woman went red in the face, and a couple of people actually laughed too. Erika didn't. She felt as though she might never laugh again.

Just then, oddly enough, Erika arrived at the Hokage's office. The nine year old just walked right in the doors, up the hall, then didn't even bother to knock as she opened the door.

"... thanks again jiji..." A blond haired boy was saying. Erika walked up to him, quiet as always, then stopped right behind him. Slouching, she shoved her hands in her pockets and said:

"You called for me Lord Hokage?"

"Ahhhhhhhh!" The blond haired pipsqueak screamed, jumping up. Erika quickly noticed all the details about him. Mom and dad had taught her to do that, and now it was yet another bad habit. He wore a white t-shirt, with the normal bright red, black trimmed swirl that signaled that this boy was an Uzumaki, the clan that was the biggest in Konoha. He wore bright blue-green mellowed goggles with white rims and had clear, innocent blue eyes that signified a hint of mischievousness. He wore thick, bright orange pants and had a long sleeved, white cuffed orange sweater with bits of blue on it wrapped around his waist. He looked about 7 years old, Sasuke's age, if only... if only her brother had survived.

Erika raised an eyebrow. "Do you always scream into the faces of those summoned by the Lord Hokage?" She asked.

"Only when I'm talking to the old man!" The shortie replied defiantly. "Didn't you learn in the Academy to not surprise people like that? It's not polite! Besides, you were so quiet!" He complained. Erika was fairly shocked by the fact that he didn't seem the need of air in order to speak.

Of course, she didn't show this on her face. "You should talk about being polite." Erika replied cooly, her face stony. "After all, I learned in the academy that you shouldn't scream in the face of someone who had done nothing but say a greeting to the Lord Hokage. But then..." Erika brushed a loose bang from her face that had been covering her eyes from her face and bent down so that her flashing, dark, stormy eyes were connected and shown right to the blond's. "But then again." She said, quietly, unnervingly (especially since she was only nine years old) way. She smiled in a patronizing way, and lowered her voice in a way that would have been dangerous... had she not been only nine years old. "I _could_ and _just might_ be wrong." She shrugged, standing up straight again.

The blond was quiet for a while. He looked a little freaked, which made Erika feel sort of proud... in an odd, Uchiha-like sort of way. Then he stood up and bounced on the balls of his feet and stuck his face right into Erika's. His breath smelled like cheap Ramen. "Shut!" He said. "Do you know who you're talking to?" He asked, putting one of his hands on his hips, his thumb tucked in the sleeves of his sweater. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and don't you forget it!" He exclaimed in a loud, hyperactive voice, jerking the other thumb, pointing towards his chest. "And I'll be the next Hokage too! You'll see! You just wait and you'll see!"

Erika raised her eyebrows. _Uzumaki Naruto, eh_? She thought. Wait... hadn't she heard that name somewhere? "Uzumaki Naruto. I think I've heard of your name somewhere." She said, thinking it over.

"I have the great title of Prank King." Naruto said proudly, puffing up his chest a little.

"He _also_ currently has the title of most annoying boy on earth." The Hokage put in helpfully, smirking at Naruto who said: "Hey!" and protested quite valiantly too.

"No, no... that's not it." Erika said. "Uzumaki Naruto. Annoying blond, hyperactive, dreams of becoming Hokage... that's it!" She said, snapping her fingers together. "You're the dobe?" She exclaimed in shock.

"Excuse me?" The Hokage and Naruto exclaimed in shock, both going fairly red in the face at Erika's poor choice of words.

"My brother talked about you. Said that you were annoying, and called you a total dobe. Not that you are one." She added quickly.

"Who's your brother?" Naruto asked, huffing, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He is... I mean, _was_... Uchiha Sasuke." Erika said grimly.

"That bastard's your brother!?" Naruto exclaimed hotly, going very red in the face.

"Eh hem." The Hokage said, butting into the conversation, quickly stopping what could have possibly morphed into a hot argument. "Naruto, I think that you'd better get going, eh?"

"Fine." Naruto said with a sigh, calming down a little, though fairly red in the face. "But..." He said, shooting what Erika thought was meant to be a very meaningful glance (though on his young and immature features it was hard to tell... not that Erika thought herself mature, in fact, she fairly much prided herself on being extremely _immature_ to be honest). "I hope that you remember that I _will_ become Hokage someday, no matter what. You'll see!" And with that he marched out of the room.

The Hokage chuckled as soon as he left, but just as soon shut up due to the very meaningful glance that Erika shot him. It meant: _Hey, Lord Hokage. I'm too respectful of you (and worried of my own life) to say this out loud, but you're weird and if you weren't Hokage I would tell you to shut up. You summoned me, now get talking_. The Hokage sighed. Children. No respect these days.

"Well Lord Hokage?" Erika asked, still standing. She raised an eyebrow. "You summoned me. What do you wish to speak to me of?" Of. _Of_, for goodness sake. Couldn't she had simply said 'about', like anyone else her age? She was speaking to him at an arm's distance, he just knew it. The Hokage wasn't a paranoid man either.

The Hokage sighed again. "Please sit." Erika leaned against the wall. Hiruzen (the Hokage) was a little curious about that. She was so polite, and now when he was polite she declined? That was odd, but then again, this _was_ the daughter of Fugaku, the Uchiha clan's _leader_.

"Well?" The nine year old prompted when Hiruzen didn't speak for a while.

The white haired man squirmed slightly under her calm, yet cold and stiff gaze. How could it be that she was years... no, _decades_, younger than him and still make him feel like a little boy under the watchful eye of a teacher? But then again, this was a Uchiha that he was dealing with. Probably the _last_ Uchiha. Sarutobi Hiruzen tugged a little at the hem of his Hokage's robe, which he had decided to wear, simply out of his mute respect for the fallen clan.

"Well, uh... you see." He said, straightening. Seriously. He wasn't that afraid of enemies in the Shinobi world... how could this practically harmless little girl scare him so much? "Eh hem. Sore throat." He exclaimed when Erika raised an eyebrow at this.

"I see." Erika said calmly, though in truth she was not seeing. "Continue."

"Well, as you know, the Uchiha's are all dead." Erika stiffened, though ever so slightly, as though he had shoved a kunai through her neck. "So it would obviously be... _uncomfortable_, as you say, to live in your estate. I've arranged for a Jounin to look after you..."

"I can live by myself in the mansion estate." Erika interrupted. "I know that the only reason that you're not going to dump me at some orphanage is for respect for my father and my clan. I don't need pity, it makes me feel pathetic. No doubt this Jounin would be pleased and agreed to have me only because I'm the 'last Uchiha', and I have only three years until I graduate. You have an account that provides money for orphans, I can live off of that until I become a genin and get money from missions."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. She was rude... in a polite fashion. An odd mix. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"I'm positive."

A silver haired man suddenly popped out from nowhere. "So then, I take it that I came here for nothing?" He asked calmly. His face was covered in a black mask, and a hi-ate covered one of his eyes. All that showed on his face was one eye.

Erika snorted. "You hired a Chunin to adopt me?" She asked. "That's kind."

The silver haired man stiffened. "I'm a Jounin." He said.

"You're short enough to be a genin. I just said Chunin because I didn't want to offend you." Erika replied calmly.

The Jounin gritted his teeth. "You're annoying." He said. Erika had obviously gotten under his skin.

"Then be happy I don't have to live with you, Hatake Kakashi." Erika shot back.

"Break it... wait... I didn't introduce Kakashi to you." The Hokage said slowly, glancing at Erika.

"Yes, you didn't." Kakashi agreed. "How did you know my name?"

"Hatake Kakashi, the copy ninja. You're famous."

"Really?" Kakashi asked dryly.

Erika rolled her eyes and ignored him. "If that's all." She said to the Hokage. "I'll just be leaving." She turned to march out of the room. "Oh, and by the way." She said, turning to Kakashi when she was halfway out the door. "You aren't very well respected in some circles, you know. Stealing another clan's kekkei genkai is considered rude."

* * *

Gaara ran towards the gate, feeling the cool night air on his cheeks then...

"Where are you going?" The Kazekage asked, stepping in front of his son.

"Oof." Gaara said as he bumped into his father.

"I said." The Kazekage repeated. "Where are you going?"

Gaara blinked, then felt a tiny prick of anger. "Why should you care?" He spat, then side stepped. "You've never cared about me before this. All you care about is you're stupid pride. I'm going out for a while."

But the Kazekage stopped him, his expression cold and stern. "Nuh uh." He said. "You aren't going anywhere."

"But..." Gaara protested.

"No." The Kazekage replied.

Gaara's cheeks went as red as his hair. "You can't boss me around!" He yelled. "You don't even care about me! All you care about is your _stupid_ honor and that dumb pride of your's and... and... and..."

"That's enough." The Kazekage said coldly. "You're staying in Suna."

* * *

"Okay class. The lecture is finished. But, I have your test scores." Katsu-sensei said. Half the class groaned. A quarter cheered, and the other quarter remained emotionless. "You will be dismissed as soon as you have your tests." He started handing them out. Erika just grabbed hers when her name was called, and ran out, her shoulder shoving against someone else's.

As soon as she was gone a fair distance from the school she stopped and pressed her back against a tree trunk and read the score. A+. Erika wasn't pleased though, she was too busy fighting back tears. As soon as she saw the grade, written at the top in red she felt empty, like a pouch emptied of all weapons. All she could remember was her mom taking the paper, saying congrats. Her dad snorting and saying no Uchiha would have less than that. Itachi telling her way to go. Itachi. That bitter, horrible name. She sank to the ground, but quickly stood up again. No time. It was getting late already, and she needed to meet up with Gaara.

It felt like no time at all when she arrived at the cave. But Gaara wasn't there, a least not yet. Understandable. Erika waited and waited. Gaara never came.

In three days Gaara had not arrived. Every evening, he hadn't arrived. Erika decided not to go. "Hinata?" She asked.

"Yeah?" The Hyuga asked, blinking her wide, blank eyes.

"Can we meet up... like... every day?" Erika asked, feeling a dark, pitted emptiness in her stomach. She idly wondered what had happened to Gaara.

Hinata blinked again. "Well of course." She said, smiling. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Best friends." Erika agreed. "In fact, you're my only friend."

"Like Sasu-"

"Don't say Sasuke." Erika interrupted. "Don't mention my family, or Sasuke. Ever. Please?"

"Okay. Why am I your only friend?" Hinata asked, quickly changing the subject. She knew Erika had reasons for things, even if she didn't understand.

Erika sighed. "They don't get me." She said.

"How come?" Hinata asked.

Erika sighed. "It's a long story." She said.

The dark haired seven year old sat down beside Erika and patted her hand in a comforting way. "I've got time."

* * *

On the fourth day, Gaara was free. Erika had not gone, and he had felt horrible, then asked his dad if the Kazekage had known anything about her. His dad had promptly informed him that the Uchiha clan had been killed, as 'sad' as it was for the village of Konoha.

The young Jinchuuriki felt absolutely horrible. He killed a couple of people who looked at him wrong ferociously, to cool himself down. He no longer felt mercy, or happiness. Why should he?

Erika was dead.

* * *

**A/N_:_**I felt really stupid writing this chapter because a lot of people experience death and they feel worse. It haunts them forever. So I feel sort of guilty... if you can understand my logic. Who feels sad about Sasuke dying and is furious with me?

Paragraph above is from Gaara's POV, just so you remember. :D


	5. Now Genin

**A/N**: Happy New Year!

* * *

**THREE YEARS LATER...**

"Now, in order to pass the genin test, you must create a henge then two successful clones. I will say your names in alphabetical order..."

That's what they had said half an hour ago. Erika had seen teammates come from the room, some with headbands, some without. She had smirked when a fan girl had come out without a hi-ate, and scowled a lot when Hyuga had come out with one. Though it wasn't as if it were unexpected, after all, he was number one rookie of the year. Most of all she had been worrying about herself passing the test... or not passing. She had felt sick with worry, and paled when Katsu-sensei had announced that the genin tests would be coming up _in a week_. Oh how foolish she had been, not studying.

Since what had happened three years ago Erika had drastically dropped her grades. It was a shock to all the teachers when she had just barely passed her next test, and the one after that, the one after that... well, you get the idea. Her physical studies had taken a while to slouch on, but pretty soon she had lost what the teachers had thought important. Not that she wasn't powerful. In fact, far from it.

Every night she and Hinata had met up and practiced with each other. They knew how to throw ten kunai, all at moving targets. They realized how to sense chakra, and how distinct it was, and who it would have belonged to. They knew how to manipulate water, create fire with justu, and move with such speed that you couldn't see them moving at all. And yet, Erika, who could do all these things, could not throw a single kunai right in front of her. That was incredibly stupid.

Hinata was shocked to find out that Erika was practically failing class, but wisely chose to say nothing of it. Living at the manor, unfortunately, as the Hokage had suggested was highly uncomfortable for Erika to live in, and the first time that she had come since what happened had happened she had dropped and cried. Then after a while she slowly... _used to it_, was not the word that she would use but she was definitely... _accustomed_, if that was the proper word. Then again, in Erika's opinion, _no word_ could describe the feeling.

She had studied Fugaku's training scrolls long and hard. There were simple ones that he used to teach Sasuke and Erika when- when the father and Sasuke had been _alive_... and Hinata and Erika had surpassed those scrolls in a matter of weeks. It was due to pure stubbornness... and one person smacking the other on the head when one of the two girls had tried to give up. Erika smiled, remembering the first time that Hinata had smacked her on the head. Hinata had looked shocked, and though her head was throbbing (who knew that seven or eight year olds could be so strong?) had laughed at the expression on the younger Hyuga's features.

"Uchiha Erika." _Oh my gosh_. Those simple two words almost caused the proud, stony faced Uchiha to fall out of her seat. She was a bundle of nerves, and she couldn't help but feel scared. _Why am I scared? I faced Itachi, he chose not to kill me. And I'm scared that I won't become a genin_? Well... in a simple word: duh. This was what she had been working up to, what she had been training for... Erika had to become a ninja. She _had _to.

Shakily, the Uchiha stood up. "I'm Uchiha Erika." She said, forcing on that calm, cold voice that she had become so accustomed to using to everyone... everyone, that was, except for Hinata. Of course not Hinata.

The teacher (she recognized him as Mizuki-sensei, a Chuunin with silvery-white hair underneath a black hat with the Konoha Leaf symbol on it) nodded at her with a soft, warm smile that made him look nice and kind to Erika. Hopefully she could count on him to be soft on her if she failed.

"Okay." Katsu-sensei said, brushing his dark hair from his hi-ate and nodding at Erika. "Make a henge of me."

_Right..._ "Henge!" Poof. There was Katsu-sensei in form and... er... glory?

A brown haired ninja (Erika thought his name was Iruka-sensei... or something like that... she never was very good at remembering names anyhow...) nodded and wrote something down on the clipboard.

"Good job." Katsu-sensei said. With another poof the henge disappeared, revealing Erika in her normal form, a hand on her hip, an eyebrow raised. "Now, I need you to make two _proper_ bushins."

"How can a bushin be improper, may I ask?" Erika asked, snorting.

"Well... well..." Katsu-sensei said, red in the face.

Erika scowled. "No words to back yourself up, I see." She muttered under her breath, but luckily Katsu-sensei didn't seem to hear. Erika was usually polite, and creepily so, some people might say, but she slipped every couple of months. If you heard her or saw her in a form other than painful politeness and a stony face then you were considered lucky, or perhaps unlucky. No one really did know, except for Hinata who liked the fact that Erika would open up to no one except for her. Hinata opened up to no one except for Erika in return. Erika's fingers quicky slipped into the hand signs to make the jutsu. "Bushin no Jutsu!" Two bushins were beside her. One had a hair out of place, which was immediately smoothed away, and the other blinked too much for Erika's taste. Oh well.

Katsu-sensei nodded and Erika's bushin's dispersed. Just her luck, they didn't look for specific details. "You've passed." He said. Erika bit her lip to keep from smiling. Even if she did smile it wouldn't be a true smile. She never had a true smile, at least, not anymore.

"Thank you." Erika said with a slight nod, and walked over and quickly grabbed the hi-ate that Katsu-sensei held out in his hand. She tied it on her forehead and wondered idly how she looked._ I hope that those fangirls aren't rubbing off on me..._ Erika though with a small bit of worry. Gosh, would that be horrible or what!?

Calmly she turned heel and walked out. Why had she been so worried about passing in he first place anyways? It had been easy... not that Erika had been complaining. Perhaps she had been lucky. Halfway home, she stopped and halted in shock. _I. Am. A. Genin._ Erika would have whooped out loud, had she not been a prideful Uchiha.

She stopped at a daifuku sweet shop and waked in. "Hi, can I have a daifuku with extra mochi and some green tea?" She asked politely without blinking.

"Hmm?" A woman asked, looking up. "Oh... oh... Uchiha-sama... of course... just a minute."

Erika pushed back the urge to sigh... or maybe scream... ever since what had happened everyone treated her so specially, with pity and respect... it was so annoying. But she forced herself to maintain that stony, cold face. "Don't worry." She said calmly and emotionlessly. "I can wait."

"So polite!" The woman said, practically squealing as she dashed off to get Erika's order.

Erika sighed. The only good thing that came with this was that whatever she ordered was given to her... and fast too.

"Here's your order!" A blond woman woman with her hair swept up in a neatly done ponytail said with a too perfect smile. This woman probably only cared for her looks.

"Thank you." Erika said icily. The blonde blinked, obviously not expecting this. Whatever. Erika had no time for a civilian who only cared about looks, popularity, and nothing else. She took the tray from the woman's hands and looked around for a spot. She instantly spotted a single seat near the window and plopped herself down then started eating. The mochi tasted nice and the green tea was a little bitter. In fact, Erika instantly knew that this _definately_ wasn't green tea. She picked it up, walked over to the waitress and slammed the cup of so-called 'green tea' on the table in front of her.

_Bang_! The cup made a thick noise and a bit of green tea sloshed out.

"This." She said coldly, locking eyes with the pink haired waitress. "Is _not_ green tea."

The waitress gaped, grabbing a towel and idly wiping the pale gunk off her apron. "Uh... uh... uh..." She said, stuttering.

"Uh, uh, uh?" Erika asked icily, coldly. "Is that all you can do and say? Stutter, stutter, stutter? Is that what you say to a _customer_ when the _customer_ gives you a little advice on how to get even more customers."

"You- you- you- we- we- we'd be happy to get you a refund." The pink haired waitress said, still stuttering.

"I hope so." Erika replied icily. "Then I can take the money and go to an actually _good _quality serving restaurant."

The pink haired waitress' cheeks went pinker than her hair. She simply held out a handful of change. Erika carefully counted it and sort of nodded to herself when she saw that all of it was there. "I'm glad that you've come to the realization that you shouldn't try to cheat your customers out of their orders." She said coldly, then turned heel and left. _Tap tap tap._ Her footsteps went against the ground.

She walked out and went towards her home when... "Erika!" A familiar voice exclaimed and she heard the soft _crunch crunch crunch_ of footsteps against the gravel road, going with a small quiet _thump thump_ that signified that the person was running.

Erika stopped and turned around. "Hinata?" She asked dubiously, and sure enough, there she was, her short, chest length black hair behind her because of her speed, her blank eyes twinkling as she smiled.

"Hinata! Stop!" A red eyed woman with short, messy shoulder length hair that was poking out slightly, wearing a white v-necked dress said, running quickly after her. Erika was a little shocked that this woman who was looking after Hinata was not a Hyuuga, clan pride and all. But since Hinata was now said not no longer be the clan heir (even though she was born into this line) Erika supposed that the clan's leader had loosened up on Hinata. Still, it was unfair.

Hinata turned back. "Why?" She asked, sounding confused. "After all, Erika's my friend!"

"She's a Uchiha." The red eyed woman replied. "You know that your father wouldn't approve."

"But Kurenai, he's disowned me!" Hinata replied. "How am I to respect the man who has no respect for me?" She asked with a prideful tilt of her head.

"He is still your father!" Kurenai replied, her voice sounding shocked. "And Uchiha's and Hyuuga's... well, you know, they have a rivalry..."

At this point Erika was a little sick of these two talking about her as if she weren't even there. "You know, it _would_ be good for politics." She said calmly, tilting her head up in that prideful way of the Uchiha. "If only the Hyuuga's clan leader weren't as stupid enough as to make Hanabi the clan heir."

Kurenai, the red eyed woman chuckled. "I guess that you're not as shy or contained as to be that polite."

"I can be contained." Erika replied calmly. "I simply am only polite to those who actually _deserve_ to be well respected."

Hinata giggled, her hand covering her mouth.

Kurenai raised her eyebrows at Hinata.

Hinata stopped giggling and squirmed a little under the watchful gaze of the Chuunin. "I... uh... might have _expressed_ my feelings to Erika a time or two about father..." She said, beet red in the face.

"So, I take it that you know things, you just don't show them to your father?" Kurenai asked.

"She's almost as good as me!" Erika piped up.

"And I take it you're supposed to be good?" Kurenai asked.

Erika pouted. "Not my fault that I'm class dead last." She replied with a roll of her eyes.

Kurenai's eyes nearly bulged out. "Y-y-you're class dead last?" She exclaimed.

"I told you to learn simple jutsu first." Hinata said with a sigh.

"Not my fault." Erika replied with a sigh. "Besides, I doubt that fire type even _has_ that many simple jutsus." Erika had worked hard on fire jutsus, despite the fact that she couldn't do the ones that required a lot of chakra. Later Hinata and Erika decided that this was because Erika didn't have fire type chakra, even though Erika only learned fire jutsu and focused on that. Hinata focused on water types, mainly out of need when Erika messed up on a jutsu or something of the sort.

"Still." Hinata said.

"Not like we learn proper jutsus in school anyways!" Erika argued.

Kurenai smirked. "Then let's see what you can do." She said.

"You're... agreeing?" Hinata asked, sounding shocked.

A smile flitted over the red eyed kunoichi's features. "Of course." She said. "Is there a specific place where you need to show me your skills?" She asked.

Hinata and Erika exchanged glances. "The cliff near the forest near the docks." They both said instantly with slight smiles and a couple of seconds of nodding.

Kurenai smiled. "Then the cliff it is." She replied, still smiling.

* * *

"Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" Erika said, her hands quickly flying through the hands seals so fast that they were almost a blur. An explosion of fire shot out from who knows where and Hinata quickly flew into action.

"Mizu rirīsu: Uōtā doragon buretto!" Hinata exclaimed, and a dragon of water with glowing red eyes shot out from the water and swirled around in twisting shapes then shot towards the bright orange red glow of fire then put it out.

"Impressive." Kurenai said, clapping her hands together slowly. "Impressive." She stood up and grinned. They had showed her many, _many_ jutsus and it had been for more than ten minutes. It only took ten _seconds_ to create a jutsu. She had been shocked by the skills of the younger ones.

Erika mock bowed. "Well thank you!" She said, grinning.

"I have to admit, that's way more than I had expected from the class dead last."

"Sheesh." Erika said, rolling her eyes. "You act as if I was the half of the class that _didn't_ graduate!"

"Ah yes. The average for graduation is three teams, nine people. And besides that, you _did_ only graduate today."

"Hmph." Hinata said, pretending to pout. "You mean that you don't see potential in us?" She asked.

Kurenai laughed. "No, no." She said. "In fact, quite the opposite. I see that you girls have worked _a lot_ on these jutsus, and I am very impressed. In fact, I would be happy to have you on my genin team. Unfortunately, I'm not a Jounin yet, and Erika's already a genin."

Erika grinned. "That's right." She said, sitting down and taking a drink from a water bottle. "You want some water Hinata?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Sure." The younger girl said, plopping down next to her and taking a long swig from a pale white water bottle. "Fresh?" She asked.

"Yeah, I bought it today." Erika said with a nod.

"Okay." Hinata said smiling. "It tastes sweet."

Erika just smiled and took another sip from her water bottle. "Ah. You have no idea how thirsty I am."

"You have no idea how thirsty _I _am!" Hinata exclaimed in reply.

"And I'm still thirsty." Kurenai said, sitting down next to Hinata and smiling.

"Right." Erika said, her cheeks going a pale pinkish color and tossed a striped bottle to Kurenai who took a swig of it. "Here you go!" The water was cold and sweet, and instantly reminded Kurenai of a water spring. The water really did taste fresh and dripped down Kurenai's grateful parched throat.

"Mmm." Was all she could say, still drinking the water.

They all sat like this for a while, sitting and drinking, saying nothing.

Then: "Want to work on our speed Hinata?" Erika asked.

Hinata took another sip of the precious, cold, sweet water and held up a single finger to signal the Uchiha to wait. "Sure." She said when she had finished her very, very, _very_ long drink.

Erika nodded. "Great!" She said, smiling. "We can have some miso soup for dinner when we're finished if you want. Kurenai's treat."

"Why mine?" Kurenai asked, confused.

"Isn't it obvious?" Erika asked. "You're the oldest. Also, you're a Chuunin and _have a job_. Therefore, you've got more money than us, as Hinata probably trusts you with her money too."

"..." Kurenai protested but in the end it was agreed that she was paying.

"Great then!" Erika said, straightening. She pulled something stiff, heavy looking and black from her pouch. _Huh_? Then she remembered. _Want to work on our speed...?_ Of course! Kurenai slapped her forehead and Erika and Hinata stared at her as if she were crazy. Whoops... did she do that physically? Weights!

Hinata took two and instantly strapped them to her leg. "Ready!" She said.

Erika nodded. "Good." She said with another nod. "Ten laps."

Hinata mock saluted. "Yes sir!" She exclaimed and they zipped off. Kurenai was amazed when they arrived in just six or seven seconds. _No way_! She thought. _B-b-b-but that's nearly the speed of a Jounin_! And she said so.

"Well, we _have_ been working on speed for a while." Erika pointed out. This Uchiha was starting to amaze Kurenai. _Was this what they had meant when they had said that Uchihas were great prodigies? Then they had lost a great clan. Yes, great indeed_.

"So." Hinata said, laughing at the dumbstruck look on Kurenai's face. "Are you going to treat us to some miso soup or what?"

* * *

_**One day later...**_

"No!" Erika screamed out loud. "No, no, no! I object!"

Katsu-sensei looked up from his clipboard. There were the nine rookies and Katsu-sensei in the room. No one else. "Erika." He said, slowly, gently, as one might speak to an animal. "These genin teams were chosen by skill level and grade level. You are lowest, Niimaru's the middle, and Kitari was number one rookie. These genin teams were placed the usual way."

"But- but- but... You _can't_ put me with Kitari, you just can't!" Erika exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Erika." Katsu-sensei said. "But I cannot change the rules."

Erika sat back down, arms crossed over her chest, glaring at Katus-sensei with such coldness, hate and ferocity that he felt like a little child. _How did she manage to do that_? He wondered idly.

Meanwhile Erika was thinking as well. _Please tell me that this is a joke_. She begged. _I just can't be with Hyuuga_!

* * *

"I couldn't believe that you didn't want to be on the same genin team as me." Kitari said in disbelief to Erika, blinking his wide, blank eyes.

"Believe it." Erika snapped. They were in an empty classroom, well, other then Erika, Kitari and Niimaru, waiting for their Jounin sensei who was already a few minutes late. "I'm no big fan of yours, and to be honest I'm shocked that any fan-girl of yours was even worthy to _have_ chakra in the first place." Kitari looked as though he wasn't sure whether to agree with her or to be offended.

"If you could have any two types of chakra, what would you have?" Nara Niimaru asked, leaning back, his hands behind his head, his feet propped up on the table.

"I would have fire and wind." Erika said instantly.

"Water and lightening." Kitari argued.

"Earth and water." Niimaru said, smiling.

"Fire and wind work well together. The wind adds to fire and makes the jutsus more powerful." Erika said without blinking, tossing her head.

Kitari snorted. "Typical Uchiha." He said. "Always thinking of _fire, fire, fire_, and you probably only chose wind because it's rare."

Erika stood up. "Not true!" She exclaimed, her dark black eyes flashing.

"Yeah right." Kitari said, standing up as well.

"What's with you two and arguing?" Niimaru asked.

The two sat down. "We're not arguing." Kitari said.

"Yeah." Erika agreed, sticking her chin out. "We're... _debating_!"

Niimaru snorted. "Different name, same thing." He replied.

"Hmph."

At this point Erika and Kitari and once again started arguing and Niimaru, being the Nara that he was, did the most Nara thing that he could do: lazily lay back and watch the two new genin fight with a mildly bored interest as though they were some sort of amusing TV show. Unfortunately, just when they were at their most heated part, their poor Jounin sensei decided to come in.

"Hai..."

"WHAT!?" Kitari yelled, turning to the Jounin with blazing blank eyes.

Erika, however, was Uchiha enough to still be sitting. In fact, during the heated argument, it had more been Kitari getting heated. Erika, on the other hand, had fought the true Uchiha way. She had stayed calm and quiet, interjecting little annoying, sarcastic comments which only would get Kitari even more riled. She, chose to turn to their sensei with a fairly mellow Uchiha glare. Unfortunately for their sensei, he was definitely no Uchiha, and was startled, and a little freaked by her cold, icy black glare.

"Eh hem." Kitari said, tugging at his shirt in embarrassment and sitting down.

Their sensei's hair was dark, pitch black, and sort of shiny, like a beetle's wings. He wore sunglasses that covered his eyes, and a jounin vest over a midnight black long sleeve. It seemed that all of them in this genin team would have dark hair, that was, if you counted Kitari's pale, light brown hair as _dark_. "My name is Aoto." He said in a deep, mysterious voice, sitting down.

"You're late." Niimaru said, scowling, which was not nearly as scary as a Uchiha scowl, but scary enough for a twelve year old.

"Sorry about that." Aoto said, waving his comment away. "You should be glad that you didn't get Kakashi. Always late, you know."

"Are you going to get to the point?" Erika asked, unblinking. It was a little unnerving, and certainly made Aoto a little uncomfortable. _You'll find some... _interesting_ kids._ They had said. Why was this dark haired girl so unhappy anyways? Aoto thought. It wasn't as though she had suffered through deaths or the life of a ninja, right?

"Right. I have conducted a test to see and test out your skills, and where you need to work at, then I will teach you a new jutsu, okay? After that we will have a snack break and get a D-rank mission."

"D-rank." The girl (Aoto figured that she was probably from civilian heiratage, and the Hyuuga was obviously the rookie of the year so the other boy was probably the class dead last. Oh, how wrong he was) said with a scoff. "I've heard from ninja that they suck."

"Yes, civilian." Aoto said with a thin smile. "They do."

"That doesn't help." She replied coldly. The girl looked furious at being called civilian, and though she was calm her eyes flashed as though she wanted to punch him right across the face with a chakra boosted fist. Ouch.

"Well then sorry." Aoto said with a smile which Erika thought was extremely annoying.

"Hmph." The girl replied, then they all stood up.

"Wait!" Aoto said suddenly and then all sat down again. "Tell me your _full_ name, what you like, dislike and, well, one more thing..."

"How about what our hobbies are?" Niimaru offered.

Aoto nodded. "Good." He said. "And why don't you start?"

"Why don't you start, _sensei_?" The dark haired girl asked.

Aoto blinked. "Yes, that's right." He said with a little nod to himself. "And why don't I start?" He was asking himself more than them, of course. "My name is Aburame Aoto, I like eating cold Udon and my insects, I don't really like using kunai in battle and I like training my insects. I use kikaichu."

Niimaru leaned over to Kitari and Erika. "Talk about an insect freak." He muttered.

"Well, he _is_ from the Aburame clan." Kitari whispered back. Of course they knew of this clan, the clan that _bred_ insects _inside their bodies_ and that used insects in battle.

"Now, your turn." Aoto said, pointing at Niimaru.

Niimaru nodded. "My name is Nara Niimaru, I like strategy games as well as things that don't need _too_ much work, I don't like things that only use brawn and no brain because that's plain stupid, I also don't like things that require tons of work, and my hobby is playing shogi with someone skilled enough at it, because if I pay with someone who's not good at it, I may end up loosing skill and brain cells."

"Of course." Aoto said, looking thoroughly mystified. "And you?" He asked, pointing to Kitari.

"My name is Kitari Hyuuga. I would _like_ to unlock my byakugun, I don't like Erika, and my hobby is... well..." At this point Kitari looked a little bit uncomfortable and he squirmed a little, then after a _looong_ pause, he spoke. "...You don't need to know what my hobby is."

Aoto might have raised an eyebrow, no one else was exactly sure what their new Jounin sensei's expression was. It was too hard to tell behind those dark sunglasses of his. "Ah..." He said with a nod. "Alright then. The girl."

Erika bristled at being called 'the girl', though ever so slightly. "My name is Uchiha Erika." She said coldly, slowly and clearly.

Aoto was shocked. He... he had the _last_ surviving Uchiha on his team? No wonder she didn't take nicely to being called civilian.

"I like to some stuff, I don't like traitors or Kitari, and my hobbies are none of your business."

Aoto blinked behind his sunglasses. So... this was his genin team. He needed to help them work together, the only question was... how?


	6. Team Aoto

"Okay, we are going to learn a fairly simply jutsu." Aoto said, pacing back and forth in front of his new genin team. "It's the tree walking jutsu, and it will not need any complicated hand seals to get in the way. This jutsu is to teach you chakra control. Though I personally am not _too_ fond of this jutsu, most other Jounin and Chuunin use it a lot." Then he went on to explain how to use chakra control and how to climb a tree. "Any questions?" He asked finally.

Silence.

"Okay then, I suppose that there's no questions then?" Aoto asked. "Right then. Get to work, you genin!"

Erika imagined sending her chakra in thin streams to the balls of her feet and stepped forwards, pressing her feet against the cold, rough bark on the tree. Right. She had nearly forgotten. She had done this exercise before, three years ago. Whoops. Guess that she had forgotten to say that. With gentle ease, she walked up the tree as though she was walking on land.

Making it to the very top was seriously easy. Erika perched herself on the top and then jumped down, landing smoothly on her feet.

Aoto nodded. "And I take it that you've done this exercise before?" He asked in that deep voice of his.

Erika nodded. "Yeah." She said.

"Did your clan teach you?" Aoto asked.

Erika felt cold at the mention of her clan. "No." She said coldly, stiffly. _Thump_. Aoto looked up.

"It looks like your friends there didn't get any pre-training." He said as Kitari fell down on his back again onto the ground.

"They're not my friends." Erika replied coldly.

Aoto laughed, as though he was amused. "Do you want any extra training?" He asked, his dark sunglasses reflecting off the sun. "After all, they're not your friends, right? Just let them take their long time to figure it out. That's how you probably did it."

Erika's eyes narrowed and she glanced over at Kitari and Niimaru, who were still falling on their backs and groaning in pain. Erika winced, though ever so slightly. She had a sore back for hours because of falling onto the ground. "No, they're not my friends." She replied, glancing at Aoto-sensei. "They're not my friends. But they _are _my comrades." And with that she walked over to them and leaned down, her face showing to Kitari's.

The Hyuuga blinked, then his features turned into a scowl. "Why are _you_ here?" He asked, snapping. "To show off, perhaps?"

Erika simply shook her head with a sigh at Kitari's stupidity and suspicions, and then she held out her hand. "Get up." She said briskly, tilting her chin up.

When the Hyuuga didn't do anything, Erika sighed.

"I'm not holding my hand out for fun, you know, Hyuuga."

Kitari blinked, looking shocked and took Erika's hand and she pulled him up with a small sigh of exasperation at Kitari's slow thought line. "Why are you helping me?" He asked.

Erika's eyes were stormy. "I just am, okay?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"It's not like you're my friend." Kitari said.

"No, but you're my teammate." Erika said, rolling her eyes. "And if you can't learn any jutsu we won't be able to go on actually _good_ missions, and if we don't go on missions I'm going to freak because it's so annoying. So, basically, if I help you, I'm helping myself."

"You're so selfish." Niimaru said, walking over to where Kitari and Erika were. "Training Kitari and paying no attention at all to me."

Erika raised an eyebrow. "So you want me to train you first?" She asked.

"Well..." Niimaru said, pausing slightly. "No."

Erika rolled her eyes. "Then why'd you ask?" She asked coldly.

"I just did, okay?" Niimaru asked with a sigh.

"Alright then." Erika said, leaning her back against a tree and cocking an eyebrow at Kitari. "So, do you want me to give you some pointer tips first, or do you want to first show me just exactly how much you _suck_?"

Kitari was quiet for a while as he mused it over. "I'll show you how much I 'suck' first." He said sarcastically.

"Okay, then show me." Erika said, tilting her chin up slightly.

Kitari took a deep breath, then rushed forwards and started walking up on the tree. When he failed and was about to fall he started dashing up wildly and then fell down onto the ground with a loud _thump_.

Niimaru was a little... okay, fine, _a lot_... shocked on how wide Erika's eyes were. No human being was supposed to be able to widen their eyes that big. "You look like your brain has totally just frozen." He said to Erika.

"How. The. Heck. Did. You. Even. Know. What. We. Were. Supposed. To. Do!?" Erika exclaimed in shock, her face stiff as always but her eyes looked as though Erika was about to scream and burst.

Kitari looked stunned at the pure amount of shock in her voice. "Yeah?" He asked slowly. "So? What do I need to improve on?"

Erika was quiet for a moment, though the red in her cheeks made Kitari wish that the calm faced girl would start yelling at him already. "Everything." She hissed in a slow, quiet, deliberately annoying voice.

The Hyuuga nearly fell over. "Everything?" He squeaked, his usually pale features a tomato red.

"Yes!" Erika nearly yelled. "Everything!" In spite of this her face was still stony. Creepy.

"So... what was good about it?" Kitari asked nervously.

Erika sighed. "You knew to use your chakra... at first, anyways."

Kitari looked really embarrassed. Niimaru smirked. "I think that she agreed to advise you just to embarrass you." He said to Kitari, who's face went a shade of scarlet that was almost inhuman.

"You think?" Kitari exclaimed in disbelief.

"You need to be calm." Erika ordered.

"I am!" Kitari exclaimed, still looking a little miffed about getting "everything" wrong.

Erika raised an eyebrow. "Mm hmm." She said, sounding disbelieving.

"I am!" Kitari exclaimed again in protest.

Erika walked over to him.

"H-hey! What are you doin-ahhhhh..."

Erika's finger was jabbed onto his neck. "1-2-3." She counted then let go.

Kitari rubbed his neck. "That hurt." He whined.

"Stop complaining. Do you want me to help you or not?"

Kitari looked as though he was starting to wonder about that. Erika raised an eyebrow and Kitari held up his hands. "Okay, okay!" He exclaimed. "I admit it! I, Hyuuga Kitari, need your help. Now don't make me repeat it."

Erika looked as though she was about to smirk, but chose not to. "Okay." She said, standing up straight. "By the way, you could try to mark your progress with kunai marks. You'll need to imagine your chakra running to your feet in straight little lines, and you have to think properly about climbing up the tree. Your focus needs to be concentrating entirely on the tree climbing exercise, nothing else. Got it?"

"_Got it_?" Erika's tone was low and a little dangerous.

"Got it, got it." Kitari grumbled. "Sheesh." He took a deep breath, turned, and started running up. He jabbed his kunai in and then fell again. Except that he was still holding onto the kunai, which was still embedded in the tree.

"You might want to let go!" Erika called out to him. "Or landing's going to be very painful."

"Oh, shut up." Kitari muttered but he let go and landed gracefully on his feet. He glanced up at his kunai and screwed his face in an annoyed look. "_Now_ how am I going to get my kunai?"

Erika shrugged. "Just get it when you've mastered the technique."

Kitari looked annoyed but said nothing. Instead he took a deep breath, pulled out a kunai, and started running again. He held onto his kunai for too long and with a _shriip_ the kunai slashed shallowly through the tree and he fell onto his feet. Instant pain shot up through his legs and they felt like jelly, and the blank eyed boy fell onto his back with a painful _thwap_.

"Ow." Niimaru commented. "That's got to hurt."

Kitari moaned.

Erika rolled her eyes. "Okay Niimaru, your turn. We'll leave Hyuuga to figure it out himself and start practicing properly." With that she turned heel and Niimaru took a deep breath, and started running up the tree.

* * *

"Good job, boys." Aoto said with a small nod. His tone of voice said: Wow, you did it, congrats, now don't expect anything else out of me. "You've managed to master the tree climbing technique. I assure you, unless you plan on running or walking on ground around to your missions in the future (assuming that you don't get killed, no offense) this will come in _extremely _handy."

The boys (who were both sitting on some thick tree branches) grinned. "Actually..." Kitari said, clearing his throat. For some reason the Hyuuga looked nervous... no, agitated... yeah, he looked as though he was about to regret whatever he was about to say. Erika, who was standing on a tree branch, smirked, as though she knew what the Hyuuga was about to say.

Silence.

The dark haired Nara shot the Hyuuga a meaningful look and nodded with a small, exasperated sigh. "It was really because of Erika, sensei. She gave us pointers and helped us."

Aoto nodded. "Thank you, Erika, now, would you three like to get a mission?" This must have been a shock because Niimaru fell out of his tree with a loud _thump_.

"That's gotta hurt." Kitari said, wincing.

"I don't know..." Erika said, sounding hesitant.

"Let's do it." Niimaru said, still rubbing his head which had sprouted a gigantic red bump.

"But it'll be boring." Kitari pointed out, shimmying down the tree trunk.

Niimaru shrugged. "All the more reason to do it." He replied.

Erika jumped down from her tree and landed gracefully on her feet, a hand on the ground and the Uchiha stood up. "Explain." She said, leaning against a tree trunk, cocking an eyebrow.

"We have to do ten D-rank missions before we can do a C-rank or something like that, right?" Niimaru asked.

"Yeah..." Aoto said, with a small nod. Ah, so _that _was what Niimaru had meant.

"Yeah, so may as well get it over with. The sooner we finish our D-ranks, the sooner we get to C-ranks and that sort of stuff."

Erika nodded. "I like your logic." She said. "Nothing else about you. But I like your logic."

Niimaru scowled, but said nothing.

Kitari smirked. "Okay then, Aoto-sensei, why don't we get a D-rank mission?"

Aoto nodded. "Come, then." He said, then turned and walked.

Kitari blinked. "I expected him to say more than two words." He said.

Erika elbowed him. "Oh, shush." She muttered, following the Jounin quickly with short but quick strides.

The two boys sighed simultaneously, and followed her. "She's annoying, isn't she?" Kitari muttered to Niimaru.

"Yes, but she _did_ help us with the jutsu so she might not be all that bad."

"Huh, yeah right. I bet she just wanted to show off or something." Kitari replied.

Niimaru shrugged. "I don't know much about that theory, but I saw her talking to sensei earlier about it. Do you think that perhaps he told her to do it and she only did it because sensei _told_ her to help us?"

"That would mean that we were seriously pathetic."

"That's just sad that class dead last would be better than us."

"I don't know." Kitari said, eyeing her carefully. "I have a feeling that there's more to her than meets the eye." At this moment, Aoto had halted in front of a big reddish-black building that Kitari had seen before but never really thought about.

"We're here." Aoto said, and held out a finger. Something that looked like a fly landed on it and the three genin felt slightly disgusted, even though they were all fairly aware of the Jounin sensei's freaky, disgusting and gross- er, I mean- _special_ ability. Then, the dark haired man turned and walked into the building with wide, speedy strides.

"It's kind of scary." Niimaru whispered.

"How so?" Erika whispered back, genuinely interested. Niimaru might had been a prodigy in his smarts, and if he was, though Erika would hardly admit it, that would make the entire genin team a team of prodigies. Erika, the last Uchiha. Kitari, Rookie of the Year Hyuuga. And Niimaru, who treated life like a game of Shogi.

"Well, if you were a ninja and you wanted to attack in this building, wouldn't there be plenty of spots where you can hide and create an ambush?"

Kitari shivered. "I never thought about it like that." He whispered back.

Erika shook her head _no_. "Don't worry." She said. "We've got Aoto-sensei."

"One Jounin is hardly enough against many other Jounins." Niimaru said grimly. "Probably sent in a group of three, if they were to attack. As well as backup, in case anything went wrong."

"Now you're just trying to creep us out." Erika said, her face calm, but if you looked into her eyes you would have _felt_ as though she had scowled, even though she was expressionless (as always).

"Am not!" Niimaru said, sounding insulted. "Just saying."

"Well don't!" Kitari snapped. "This will come good in a mission and all but seriously, you're starting to freak me out."

"Sorry." Niimaru muttered, grumbling about how a ninja has to stay alert and stuff like that. And, of course, he was right. Niimaru was always right about stuff like that.

Just then, they entered a small room in the building with an old man in white and red robes sitting beside a young dark haired boy about four years younger than Erika was.

"Lord Hokage." Erika murmured, bowing. Okay, so ladies curtsy, but who said that she was a lady?

Kitari blinked, looking a little surprised, and then bowed low as well. Niimaru just dipped his head and Kitari glared at the Nara who seemed to have no reaction.

The Hokage gave a little nod to Aoto, then Erika. The two boys felt a little miffed when he didn't do the same to them. After all, why would the Hokage acknowledge _Erika_? Nothing against her, but still! "You're here for your mission?" He asked in a gruff but soft and kind voice.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Aoto said. The Hokage smiled.

"First time, right Aoto?"

Aoto nodded quietly.

"One D-rank, coming right up!" The Hokage said with a smile. "Konohamaru?"

"Huh?" The eight year old asked, looking as though he regretted something. "Oh, yeah, right." He leafed through the papers, then snickered and handed the Hokage a file.

The old looking man looked at it, then frowned. "What is so funny about _this_?" He asked.

Konohamaru rolled his eyes. "Nothing." He replied with a sigh, as though the Hokage was a total clueless case. Who was this brown haired kid anyways? "It's nothing, it's just that it's the simplest and lamest mission _ever_." He shrugged. "Other than that, nothing... I guess."

The Hokage sighed. "Konohamaru, each ninja has to start with ten D-rank missions before they go to other missions. You know that."

Konohamaru rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, old man, I know." He said with a sigh.

The Hokage forced a smile at the genin and Aoto. "I'll have to apologize for my grandson." He said with a slight nod of his head to the eight year old, who pouted.

"Whatever old man." Konohamaru said, looking annoyed. "When I become a ninja, I'll be so awesome that I won't even _need_ to do the D-ranks first, then I'll become Hokage, and when that happens I won't force people to do so much D-rank missions!"

"You've been hanging around Naruto too much, you know that?" The Hokage asked his grandson. Wait... Naruto? The blond, overly hyperactive, Uzumaki pipsqueak? What was the Hokage's grandson doing around _him_?

"Hmm hmmm!" Erika cleared her throat loudly, to the shock of the boys, glaring very pointily at the Hokage. "Are we going to get our mission or _what_?"

The Hokage's face went as red as the Uzumaki symbol. "Sorry about that." He said, then handed Aoto the small, orange-yellowish file with one or two pieces of paper in it.

"I don't know why you try to disguise this as professional, or even difficult." Aoto said in that deep voice of his with a slight, pale smile on his features. "I remember when I was a genin, and I believe that I should _know_ that this mission can hardly be classified as a true mission, Lord Hokage." He opened the fire and let out a sigh.

The Hokage smiled, looking amused. "Just do it, Aoto." He said.

The Aburame just shook his head with another sigh and gestured to his genin team to follow him.

"Ugh, what a drag." Niimaru complained, somehow slouching _while_ he was walking. "I hope that this isn't too lame."

"It was fated to be..." Kitari started in a very serious voice. "...as you put it... _lame_." He looked a little uncomfortable using such _different_ vocabulary, though the Hyuuga would have most likely said _crude,_ which was a bit of an exaggerated description.

Aoto grinned, though it was more of a mysterious smirk. "You will be doing a very dangerous mission." He said.

Kitari perked up. "Seriously?" He asked in a hopeful, yet desperate voice.

"Yes." Aoto said mysteriously. "And when you're finished, you might have to..." He paused dramatically. "Take a shower!" Kitari smacked his sensei on the arm. "You have no sense of humor." Aoto grumbled, sounding grumpy.

"Hmph." Kitari said.

"What a drag." Niimaru said, sounding bored, his hands shoved into his pockets. "So, what's the real mission, anyways?"

Aoto smirked.

* * *

As it turned out, the so-called _mission_, was painting some guy's fence. "I'll bet my mission money that this guy's a Nara." Kitari grumbled. "No one but a Nara could be so lazy."

"I don't object." Niimaru said with a sigh, even though he was frowning a little.

"No deal." Erika replied, shaking her head. "I think that this guy probably _does_ have Nara blood."

"This is _such_ a drag." Niimaru exclaimed, though he wasn't really doing anything.

Erika rolled her eyes. "Yeah right, like you're doing anything." She grumbled.

"Remember that you're getting paid to do this!" Aoto called out, as if they cared, which, of course, they _did_.

Erika just groaned as she dipped her paintbrush into the pail of paint again, and wiped her hair from her forehead with the back of her hand. Kitari snickered. "What?" She asked, annoyed. When Kitari didn't answer Erika's eyes hardened a little. _"What_?" She asked in a stiff, firm voice.

Kitari rolled his eyes for absolutely no reason. "You've got paint in your hair." He informed her in a snooty voice.

"So what?" Erika asked cooly. "You've got _tons_ of paint in your hair."

"What?" Kitari yelped, running his damp, paint covered fingers through his light brown hair. "I do?"

Niimaru smirked. "Now you do." The Nara said in an annoying smarty pants voice.

Kitari gritted his teeth but said nothing. Suddenly, Aoto-sensei stood up and stretched out his arms. "I'm going to... take care of some matters. Missions stuff, you know? See you!" And he disappeared in a blur of speed. Kitari snorted.

"Looks like Aoto-sensei was bored too." He said, still painting. "No wonder either... this is _so_... uh..."

"Idiotic?" Niimaru supplied.

"Moronic." Erika said sweetly, looking completely innocent.

"...stupid." Kitari finished, shooting glares at the other two, who both rolled their eyes at his simple description of the annoying job... or rather, so-called _mission_.

Suddenly, Erika stood up, and her hi-ate (which was now smudged with a streak of white paint) fell too the ground. Erika frowned at the fallen hi-ate, but made no move to pick it up. "I have an idea..." She said hesitantly.

"To get us out of this?" Kitari said hopefully.

"To speed up the job." Erika completed her sentence, shooting a very meaningful look at Kitari.

"Okay..." Niimaru said eagerly. "I'm listening."

"Well." Erika said. "This is either going to be really good or..." She cleared her throat a couple of times. "Really bad." She rolled her eyes as the dubious looks on her teammate's faces. "Don't worry!" Erika exclaimed. "If the fence blows up..."

"_Blows up_!?" Niimaru exclaimed, jumping up.

Erika glared at the dark haired Nara. "_I_, will personally fix the fence myself."

"No deal." Kitari grumbled.

"Too bad." Erika said, smirking. "Your protest was given a tad late."

"WHAT!?" Both boys roared, leaping up.

Erika pulled out an explosive tag and made a few changes on it with a brush, then the Uchiha dipped it into the tub of paint until it was dripping in the white paint, then stuck it onto the fence. "You might... want... to... step... back..." She said, stepping back, then ducking behind a tree and crouching down, her hands over her head. Quickly she stood back up, ran over, grabbed her hi-ate, then ran back, covering her head as she hid behind the tree.

"Hey!" Kitari exclaimed, protesting. "What do you mean step..."

_BOOM!_

The explosive tag exploded, shooting splashes of white paint everywhere along with slight, unnoticed specks of fire. Kitari and Niimaru's fronts were pale white, and Niimaru wiped the gunk from his eyes. "What. Did. You. Do!?" Niimaru yelled not so much in anger as in shock.

"The fence didn't blow up." Erika noted, stepping out from the tree, only a few specks of white here and there on the Uchiha.

Kitari looked furious. "WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO!?" He yelled.

Erika shrugged. "I made this job a whole lot easier." She replied.

"You blew the paint up." Niimaru said.

"You're a genius." Erika said dryly, pulling out another explosive tag.

Kitari looked seriously alarmed. "Oh no." He said, frowning and shaking his head. "No, no, no! I object!" Erika shrugged.

"Too late."

_Boom! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

* * *

In the end, Niimaru was the most thankful for the exploding paint. Even though he had to take a shower and he had barely done any work, he said that "even though it was a drag, good thing we didn't have to do anything much".

Kitari was in a foul mood for the rest of the day, grumbling about stupid explosive tags. When Aoto had seen the boys he had done the most unexpected thing of the Jounin: He burst out laughing. And if you looked closely you would have seen that Erika had this little, smug, superior look in her eyes when she had seen the Aburame's reaction.

Hinata had giggled like nuts when she heard the story. Erika had scribbled down the expression on Kitari's face and it had simply made the Hyuga laugh all the harder.

"And he was all white?" Hinata said, giggling.

"Yep." Erika replied, grinning.

Hinata gasped for breath, then grinned again. "Wow. I can't believe that you did that Erika." She said, shaking her head with a smile on her face. "You really are something else."

"Ooh!" Erika said, digging in her pouch. "I just remembered! I brought some chakra paper, so that we can see the type of chakra that we have."

Hinata stood up eagerly. "Good!" She exclaimed. "Now we can finally decide what types of jutsus we have! _Finally_!"

Erika simply smiled at the younger girl's reaction, but she had to admit that she was pretty excited to see what type of chakra she had as well. Learning jutsus would be _so_ much easier, not to mention it would simply just be satisfactory to see what type of chakra she had.

"Me first!" Hinata said. Erika just laughed.

"Okay." She said, handing it over. Though both girls were equally excited, Erika was the elder and an Uchiha, both which counted for her patience. Hinata held the paper gingerly between her thumb and index finger as though the tiny, rectangular piece of paper was an explosive tag that might blow up any second. There was a short moment of silence, then the paper became wet and damp.

Hinata smiled in satisfaction. "Water." She said with a slight, satisfied nod. "I should have guessed. After all, I did do pretty well in water jutsu, didn't I?"

Erika bopped her over the head. "Don't get a big head." She said with a smirk. "It will be your downfall."

The ten year old rolled her eyes. "Yeah, look who's talking." She replied defiantly.

Erika simply stuck out her tongue, then reached for the paper. Suddenly the Uchiha felt a wave of nervousness in the pit of her stomach, feeling as though this single piece of paper would decide her fate. And, in a way, it probably would. Erika wondered what her chakra type would be. Not fire, that was for sure. Probably not wind, as that was extremely rare. That left water, lightening, and earth. What would she get?

Her arm feeling numb, Erika reached in and held the paper in her hand. Inside, she was trembling but the dark haired girl was sure not to show it. It crinkled, then turned to dirt and crumbled away.

"Well." Hinata said, when the two had finally found their voices. "It looks like you have _two_ types of chakra."


End file.
